[photopress:air_kolkata.jpg,full,alignright]China Eastern Airlines is now flying operations which will eventually link Indian cities like Mumbai and Bangalore to China.
Ginger Jiang Wei, the Indian representative for China Eastern, said, ‘We are eyeing the Indian metros where the passenger airline traffic is growing at a fast pace. Mumbai and Bangalore figure prominently on our radar. Apart from the business delegations, there has also been a significant growth in Indian tourists to China.’
However, he was unable to say when services from Mumbai and Bangalore to Shanghai might be restored.
Chin Eastern, which had flight operations from Mumbai, in 2005 discontinued the service. Now it is running three non-stop flights per week between Kolkata and Kunming.
Ginger Jiang Wei said, ‘We chose Kolkata owing to its geographical proximity to Kunming. Kunming is a known tourist hub and we are looking to cash in on the growth of the tourism traffic from India to China. China is now emerging as an alternative destination to the South-East Asian countries for the Indian travelers’.
The tourism traffic from India to all airlines is growing at the rate of around 35-40% a year.
Source: Business Standard