Air Travel in India

India has an excellent domestic air service with over seventy airports in sixty destinations.

Indian Airlines and its subsidiary Alliance Air, operate the majority of flights. Indian Airlines spans the country's airways and covers all places of importance for business and tourism. This state owned airline also flies to a few neighboring countries. India's principal foreign air carrier is Air India.

Private airlines fly to several important cities in the country. Some of the private airlines are: Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Air Deccan. A host of small airlines operate short routes. Jet Airways and Air Sahara have also started international operations with flights to Nepal and Sri Lanka. Next on their radar screens are other destinations like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

There are a host of new low cost airlines getting ready to launch their services in India. About 10 to 12 new airlines are expected to join the fray and the final figure is anybody's guess.

The entry of low cost airlines would also mean intense competition on the fares and the air routes. Indian Airlines, Air Sahara and Jet Airways have already come up with lower fares to beat the competition from Air Deccan that has announced fares as low as Rs. 700 (Air Deccan is a no frills airline). Overall the fares may come down by 35-50 per cent and the seating capacity may go up by 40 per cent.

A market forecast conducted by Airbus suggests that India's four major airlines will have to more than double their fleet size by adding more than 200 passenger aircrafts. Air traffic to Europe is expected to more than triple in the next 20 years. The domestic market is also expected to grow substantially.


Indian Airports
International airports of the metro cities Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa are what can be expected of any international airport of the world, offering a range of services, that ensure the business traveler every facility. These include restaurants, business centers and cyber cafes, rest rooms and handy telephone booths.

Business centers are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment including word processors and telefax. Airports also offer tourist duty free and handicrafts shopping; informal snack bars, nursery and baby care rooms, and even an art gallery. Duty free prices in the airport shops are very competitive, offering you bargains on international merchandise.
Airports in smaller cities are more basic - but they all have small souvenir shops, snack bars and telephone facilities.


International Airlines in India
India is well connected by air on all international routes and served by all major international airlines. The international airlines that operate services in to and out of India include :