The Hindu : Business : Dragon starts Bangalore-HK daily flights

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Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
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Business

Dragon starts Bangalore-HK daily flights

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Dragon Air, part of the Cathay Pacific Group, has started direct daily flights between Bangalore and Hong Kong from Wednesday. Dragon Air already operates flights from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Together with Cathay Pacific, the airline group now has 35 flights a week from India.

Tom Wright, General Manager for India and the Middle East, Cathay Pacific, told reporters here that market studies indicated demand for direct flights from Bangalore. “For those in the information technology industry in Bangalore, the added advantage is conveniently timed flights from Hong Kong to the West Coast of the U.S., another IT hub.”

“The increased cost of aviation fuel has hit the airline industry badly; fuel forms 40 per cent of our operating cost. Cathay Pacific made profits of $900 million last year and can weather this.

“On the positive side, passenger traffic, load factor and forward bookings are good,” Mr. Wright said. International airlines might hike the fuel surcharge component in fares, if the situation continued, he explained.

Algernon Yau, General Manager, Dragon Air, said the round-trip business class fare between Bangalore and Hong Kong will be Rs. 62,000. “Cargo traffic with India has steadily gone up. The number of Indians visiting Hong Kong is also increasing and we expect a 70-80 per cent on this route too,” he said.

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