Silk Air Lines Up S India Flights, Shortlists Hyderabad, Kochi

Silk Air, the wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore International Airlines (SIA), is exploring the possibilities of expanding its operations to secondary Indian cities. Kochi and Hyderabad are two potential destinations that have so far been shortlisted.

Subject to the signing of bilateral air service agreements between the governments of India and Singapore, Silk Air would want to fly directly to these non-metro destinations to tap tourist traffic and connect South India with Singapore.

A substantial number of people of Indian origin, especially South Indians, are settled in Singapore.

A formal request for fresh bilaterals however, is yet to be submitted to the Indian government. At present, all flying rights available to Singapore have been exhausted by SIA, the national carrier of Singapore and Silk Air.

The regional airline is unlikely to add any North Indian destinations to its network since its fleet comprises Airbus A-320 aircraft that only have a range of about four hours.

The airline currently flies thrice a week to Thiruvananthapuram, which is a three hour flight. Sources told Business Standard that the airline flies about 80 people on an average per flight.

"There are no seasonal variations in the traffic. It remains constant all year round without any sharp drops," sources said. There however, are no plans to increase the frequency to Thiruvananthapuram.

Silk Air is a regional arm of SIA, and operates to South East Asian destinations. It is now expanding its operations to other Asian destinations such as China.