SIA plans to increase fares

Singapore Airlines (SIA) feels Indian offers great growth opportunities and has decided to launch new services connecting Ahmedabad in July and Amritsar after a short while, said chief executive Chew Choon Seng.

Seng told a visiting media team on Saturday morning, "India and China are great growth stories" for the geographic opportunities there in the countries. Sadly SIA would not be able to acquire majority stake in an Indian carrier as it was not permitted under the law of the land.

Rather, the company, which surprised analysts by posting a fourfold growth in fourth quarter earnings on Friday, would like to increase links to India and the introduction of new services was aimed to the direction, he added.

According to Seng, SIA's Indian operations have managed to achieve a double digit growth, nearly at par with the industry rate." The domestic players are growing at a faster rate than international carriers in India," he observed.

Huan Cheng Eng, executive vice president (marketing and regions) said the details of the proposed link to Ahmedabad, including the frequency of flights, were being chalked out. SIA currently runs flights to four metros and Bangalore while Silk Air, its regional wing, has links with Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Hyderabad.

(Travel and stay for this story was sponsored by Singapore Airlines)