Flying to Dubai is now more convenient! Kingfisher Airlines introduced a new International route from Bengaluru International Airport to Dubai on June 25. The airline has deployed a 174 seater A320 aircraft on its daily flight arriving into Bangalore at 0345 hours local time and departing from Bangalore at 1815 hours local time.

As we keep flying higher to develop new routes, here’s yet another addition to our network!

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SV) commenced its flight operations to three new Indian destinations. Bangalore is one of the lucky cities to start the operations with two flights a week. The flights serve passengers from Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.

You can now have a choice of airlines to travel to Colombo- any day of the week! The first Kingfisher Bangalore - Colombo flight was flagged off, at 3 p.m. on January 19, with approximately 70 passengers on board, including the media. The occasion saw the airport being adorned with flowers that were fit for a wedding and passengers were thrilled to walk the red carpet to the flight.

Apart from directly connecting Bangalore to Colombo, the new flight also provides the ideal connection for passengers flying from Colombo to London – via our airport. The flight’s arrival in Bangalore from Colombo is connected seamlessly to the London flight, making us an ideal connection!

The flight departing at 0135 hrs, operates on 4 days of the week, Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The flight arrives in Brussels at convenient time to connect to three other Jet Airways flights departing from Brussels to New York, Newark and Toronto. Connections to other European destination are available through their alliance partners, Sabena.

A new Air India flight will enable comfortable travel for passengers from Bangalore to New York. The new flight AI 623 starting from Sunday October 26, will leave Bangalore at 8.45 pm and land in Mumbai at the International Terminal (CSI Sahar Terminal) at 10.15 pm enabling the Bangalore passengers to connect the NonStop Mumbai - New York flight AI 141 leaving Mumbai at 00.45 am. Air India passengers can check in upto New York at Bangalore itself and their baggage will also be through checked in. For the domestic passengers wishing to travel from Bangalore to Mumbai an attractive inaugural fare of Rs 675 plus taxes (totalling to Rs 4000) is offered by Air India in this new flight AI 623. This fare is available for bookings upto October 31 and travel upto November 30, 2008.

The passengers can comfortably complete their customs and immigration formalities at Bangalore airport and board the state of the art Airbus A321 flight to Mumbai and enjoy In-flight entertainment. On arrival at Mumbai International airport they will be received and facilitated before boarding the nonstop flight to New York.

This was not the only reason for celebration though. October also ushered in the holiday season and with it kick started the festive spirit that will carry on till December. To reflect the festivities ringing across the city, pujas were performed at the airport and Hebbal offices. “These traditional customs were observed on the ninth day of Navrathri with Ayudha puja for all airport tools, objects and vehicles used daily at the airport. The airport bore an air of newness with all equipments and machinery being cleaned and garlanded as is the customary practice.

If you lose your way and stray into the room past the elevators at the check-in hall, you might feel like you’ve been magically transported into a five star hotel! Yes, you’d find yourself in the all new reserved lounge that will cater to high profile and important travelers. This plush lounge is a secluded corner of comfort, exclusively for the likes of MPs, chief secretaries, visiting dignitaries and high profiled executives. Sporting luxurious barcaloungers and single sofas, the lounge comes fully loaded with an in-house pantry, restroom including shower facilities, television and reading material. The 24/7 lounge is serviced by 10 well trained guest relations BIAL staff. Infusing enthusiasm into these young executives is their trainer Mrs. Meena Gupta, who has given them keen guidance and constant encouragement. The lounge will also house an office for the State Intelligence. Among the first visitors to the lounge on its opening day on October 22 was V Madhu, MD, KSIIDC.

Welcoming passengers into a world of luxury is the airport’s newest Kingfisher lounge and needless to say, it screams luxury. From sink-into chairs to plush interiors, the brand’s trademark colours – red and white dominate the lounge. Frequent flyers with this airline will now love flying out of our airport. After all, who doesn’t like royal treatment?

‘The Green Pledge’ saw a signature campaign being carried out. For each of these signatures, BIAL will plant a tree in the airport premises. The weeklong event was very well received and supported by all. Enthusiastic and excited passengers were seen pledging their support to this cause, with some even making the time to plant a sapling at the airport. The boards had to be replaced within the first day itself, as they were quickly filled with signatures. We sure have a lot of enthusiastic people out there who care deeply about this city’s future!

Dragon dancers, drums, lights, whistles, cheer and lots of cameras - the night of July 01 came alive as the first Dragon Air flight touched down and took off from Bangalore. A subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, the airline will operate daily flights to Hong Kong from Bangalore. The airline is the fourth new international airline to begin operations from Bengaluru International Airport since we commenced operations on May 24. The other passenger flights include Air Mauritius that began operations on May 27, Tiger Airways on June 01 and Oman Air on June 16.

This goes towards realizing BIAL’s goal to position Bangalore as a regional hub for South India, enhancing the city’s connectivity to the rest of the world.

On the evening of May 23rd, the airport sported a surreal look, lit up right from the Trumpet Interchange to the terminal building. The ATC Tower looked majestic with its rotating lights. As flight IC 609 touched down at Bengaluru International Airport at 22:37 hrs, BIAL employees and partners stood on the apron, cheering the much awaited moment. Though celebrations were minimal due to the election code of conduct in the state, the airport was finally operational. Months of hard work and preparation had finally paid off. Nothing could suppress the pleasure on the employees’ beaming faces. Even passengers on the flight were thrilled to be the first to land at the new airport with the first two being greeted with baskets of flowers presented by Albert Brunner and V P Baligar. The pilots who landed the aircraft were all praise for the airport, commenting that they felt like they were landing in Singapore.