The Hindu Business Line : ‘We are seeing good growth in Indians wanting to travel abroad’

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is betting big on India. The airline plans to enhance increase to New Delhi and Bangalore earlier than expected and is to change the aircraft operated on the Delhi route to a Boeing 777-300, which will offer more comfort and luxury. In an interview to Business Line during a recent day-long visit to the capital, the airline’s Regional Vice-President, West Asia and Africa, Mr Subhas Menon, outlined the airline’s plans.

Excerpts from the interview:

What plans do you have for India?

We hope to be able to operate a double daily flight from Delhi to Singapore from August this year.

At the moment, SIA offers a double daily flight from Delhi only twice a week and we are hoping to be able to increase to a double daily service on all days of the week, so that passengers have the option of a morning and evening departure from Delhi.

From June this year, we plan to start operating the Boeing 777-300 aircraft on the Delhi route, which will offer passengers the opportunity to enjoy business class comforts similar to the business class on the Airbus A-380 aircraft.

From Bangalore also we are planning to increase the number of days on which we will offer a morning and evening flight. At the moment the airline offers a twice-a-day flight on three days of the week, which we are planning to increase to five days.

Will the introduction of the Boeing 777-300 aircraft to Delhi make any difference in the fares?

The fares will go up, on an average, by around 15 per cent in business class and about 5 per cent in economy class. But let me emphasis that the fare increase has more to do with the seasonal nature of the business than with anything else. The airline, like most global airlines, reviews its fares on a seasonal basis.

What are the airline’s future plans?

The airline’s priority will be to increase flights to Kolkata so that we operate a daily flight and we will also look at going double daily from Chennai. Besides, the option of operating to Pune, where we see huge potential, is also on our radar.

Is the airline witnessing a slowdown in passenger traffic?

We have not seen much drop in passengers travelling but we are expecting some slowdown, what with the US economy slowing down and the sub-prime crisis. What we are noticing is that passengers who used to travel, say, six times a year are now travelling four times a year. Besides, there could be cases of passengers who earlier used to travel in business class now preferring to travel in economy.

In India and China also there is a slowdown, primarily because of capacity boom. We feel that the next decade will be of growth in India and China, and we want to be a part of the growth.

Are any changes being seeing in the travelling patterns of Indian going abroad?

The airline is seeing good growth in Indians wanting to travel abroad. While the first-timers are keen to travel to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, those who have travelled before are venturing out to places such as New Zealand and Australia. Besides, the demand for travel to Vietnam is also picking up among tourists and China too is becoming a popular destination for incentive groups.

The airline is operating the Airbus A-380 to Australia which offers personal suites in the sky. Are there takers in India?

Bollywood stars, corporates and honeymooners are among those seeking to travel by these suites. In fact, before the launch of the commercial operations of the A-380, we had a charity flight for which bids were received globally. One of the persons bidding for the suite seat was a passenger from Gujarat.