AirAsia to connect Bangalore with Jaipur, Chandigarh for Rs.1,999

Chennai, July 24 (IANS) Low cost airline AirAsia (India) will connect Bangalore with Chandigarh and Jaipur this September for around Rs.1,999 and ticket bookings will open soon, a top company official said Thursday.

Announcing the appointment of Globe Air Cargo to manage cargo sales, AirAsia CEO Mittu Chandilya said: "Ticket bookings for Jaipur and Chandigarh from Bangalore will soon be opened. The flights will begin this September."

The fare for Jaipur and Chandigarh out of Bangalore will be around Rs.1,999 as the flight duration will be around two hours, he told reporters here.

Chandilya said the airline will bring in one more aircraft next month and add one craft per month to build its fleet.

According to him, the load factor in the current routes are much higher than what was earlier budgeted.

"The load factor between Bangalore and Goa is 96 percent and Bangalore-Chennai is 85 percent. The Bangalore-Kochi route has a load factor of around 90 percent. We earlier pegged the target at 75 percent which was thought to be achievable," Chandilya said.

Queried about the cargo load, he said the airline hopes to carry around 3.5 ton in its belly.

Globe Air Cargo is part of $928 million ECS group.

According to ECS' managing director (India) Rajendra Dubey, the Bangalore-Kochi route has three ton cargo one way while Bangalore-Chennai will be a challenge.

"We are in talks with another airline for a strategic tie up for utilising the AirAsia's cargo capacity better on the Bangalore-Goa route. This will be the first of its kind in the domestic route," he said.

As per the proposed tie-up, Goa will be sort of a transhipment point whereby AirAsia can carry cargo destined to Delhi from Bangalore to Goa and from there it will be loaded to the partner airline.

Similarly the partner airline can fly cargo to Goa to be flown to Bangalore. This way the cargo capacity of an aircraft can be utilised in a better fashion, Dubey said.