Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced the launch of its new services between Ahmedabad and Singapore with effect from 28 July.

According to a press release from SIA, necessary approvals for the commencement of service have been obtained from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Director General of Civil Aviation in India.

Interestingly, Ahmedabad, known as the 'Manchester of the East' will be the ninth Indian destination to be served by Singapore Airlines.

The thrice-weekly flights will be operated with the Boeing B 777-200 aircraft which has a two- class configuration with 30 seats in Raffles (business) Class and 293 seats in economy with a total of 323 seats.

The flights SQ 461/462 will operate on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. SE 462 will depart from Singapore at 2 am (Singapore time) and arrive at Ahmedabad at 4 45 am (Indian time) while SQ 461 will depart from Ahmedabad at 6 am and reach Singapore at 2 pm.

B K Ong, general manager, Singapore Airlines, India, had said, ' The SIA is happy to be able to expand into Gujarat.The operation to Ahmedabad will bring about better connectivity into western India. Ahmedabad is also a natural gateway to south Rajasthan and western Madhya Pradesh. This would lead to growth in business travel and tourism both inbound and outbound.'

It is to be noted that passengers would have the convenience of making onward journey on the same day with connections between Ahmedabad and points in South East Asia, USA, Australia and New Zealand. With the operation of this direct flight, Singapore Airlines would be operating a total of 35 passenger flights a week between Singapore and India from 28 July,2004.

Singapore Airlines currently operates 32 passenger flights a week to five cities in India viz, 12 week to Mumbai, daily each to Delhi and Chennai and three times a week each to Bangalore and Kolkatta.