Air India to make Bengaluru Airport its third hub

Air India will develop Kempegowda International Airport at Benagluru as a hub for its long haul flights, the airline said on Monday.

The airline has entered into an agreement with the airport to develop Bengaluru as an aviation hub for southern India.

As part of this agreement, the Tata group airlines which includes Vistara and Air India Express, will strengthen the group’s present flight network at the airport and establish a lounge on the domestic side.“Airline-airport synergy is key to elevated customer experience and efficient operations, while Bengaluru is highly attractive as an origin and destination market as well as a connecting hub. We are therefore delighted to be strengthening our relationship with BIAL with a view to developing a greater presence at the airport, expanding air connectivity as well as building a major MRO center,” Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Air India, said in a joint statement.

Earlier, the airline had said that it will establish a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at Bengaluru airport with an investment of around Rs 1,300 crore.

Hari Marar, CEO of Bengaluru Airport, said that the agreement supports the vision of developing Indian airports as hubs. “Given that over half of the international outbound travellers from Bengaluru and our catchment head to Europe, North America, Australia, and the Far East, our alliance with Air India represents a substantial leap towards this goal. We aim to capture a significant share of long-haul routes from BLR Airport over the next five years”.Currently, the Air India group has around 100 domestic flights per day from the airport, trailing market leader IndiGo which has 140 departures.Wilson had earlier said that with India’s fast growth in air traffic, the country can support at least one other international hub beyond Mumbai and Delhi.

Over the last few years, Bengaluru has emerged as a choice of airport for airlines looking to launch new flights due to the constraints at the Delhi and Mumbai airports.

In 2022, Akasa Air started business, choosing Bengaluru as its hub. Before that, AirAsia had also said that it would be based out of Bengaluru.