Flights to India will return to pre-pandemic levels by October: SIA

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced that it will return to its pre-pandemic level of operations to India by October 30, buoyed by a robust surge in the demand for air travel.

Singapore's flag carrier will progressively operate 17 weekly flights to Chennai, up from the current 10 flights per week, it said on Tuesday.

Similarly, flights to Kochi will also increase by 14 times weekly, up from the current seven flights per week, while Bengaluru will see 16 flights per week, up from the current seven flights per week, the airline said.

SIA will operate almost 100 per cent of its pre-Covid operating capacity to India by October 30, 2022, it said in a statement.

JoAnn Tan, Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Singapore Airlines, said that "robust demand for travel to and from India, to points across the Group network, support an increase in our services in this important market."

Pre-pandemic, the airline operated to seven destinations in India with a total of 96 flights a week.

SIA also plans to increase flights to destinations like Tokyo, Osaka, Paris and Los Angeles, as part of its efforts to ramp up its capacity to 81 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year, it added.

Battered by the pandemic for the past two years, the airline industry is slowly limping back to normalcy and the resumption of normal overseas flights is expected to provide a fillip to this sector.