Indian runways are set to see more of SIA with the company looking at strengthening its presence in the Indian market. While in the last season the airlines operated 95 weekly services, it has gone up to 104 this winter. “We have been increasing our footprint in India. From economy to premium travel, we see big potential. We are trying to improve our presence by introducing newer aircraft in the market,” said David Lim, SIA GM (India). The airline is also marking its 70th year of inception in 2017. In India, SIA plans to cover both premium and economy class travel among its brands SilkAir, Scoot and TigerAir. While there is a growing market for premium air travel, owing to cash strapped global economies, the economy class travel is growing at a faster pace, Lim said. As of now, SilkAir has its services in Vizag and Coimbatore and if there is a demand from other tier II cities, they would cater to it, Lim said. Also, with TigerAir branding folding into Scoot by the end of next year, the airlines was looking at a better commercial synergy. At present, Scoot is present in Amritsar, Chennai and Delhi. Among SIA, SilkAir, Scoot and Tiger Air, the airlines flies from 15 cities in India. The airlines has further announced major expansion plans in the US, Lim added. SIA has also launched Singapore- San-Francisco non-stop daily service. “This means that for Indian customers, unlike earlier, now there will be only one stop to fly to the US.”<br/>
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The relaunch of Moscow flights, new Frankfurt services via Phuket and the deployment of the new Airbus 350 XWB on Italian routes are highlights of Thai Airways International's winter programme. The six-month flight plan will also see THAI increase the frequency of flights on mostly European routes. President Charamporn Jotikasthira said Thursday the adjustment during the period of Oct 30 to March 25 is intended to meet passenger demand during the high season as well as to create greater regional connectivity. The carrier's non-stop Bangkok-Moscow service, with four flights a week, is set to start on Dec 15 aboard the Boeing 777-200ER. The other new route the airline created and commenced yesterday is Bangkok-Phuket-Frankfurt, with three flights a week served by the B777-300ER. <br/>