Changi Airport continues to boost connectivity to secondary cities in India with the introduction of new city links to Pune and Vijayawada. With India being the sixth largest market, registering more than 4.2 million passenger movements in 2017, these new routes strengthens Changi Airport’s overall connectivity to India, and reinforces its position as Asia’s most connected cities to India.
On 1 December, Jet Airways commenced a daily service between Singapore and Pune. This marks Pune’s first international link to Asia and caters to the rising demands of Pune travellers visiting Singapore and the region. In the same month, Jet Airways launched an additional daily service each to Mumbai and New Delhi, bringing the total weekly services to the two cities to 45 and 42 respectively. In addition, Indigo launched twice weekly services from Vijayawada to Singapore on December 5, increasing connectivity between Andhra Pradesh and Singapore in support of ongoing government collaborations between the two cities. With these new developments, Changi Airport is connected to 18 Indian cities by 300 weekly one-way services – an 18 per cent increase in the number of weekly one-way service compared to the same period last year.
Lim Ching Kiat, Managing Director of Air Hub Development, Changi Airport Group said, “Together with our airline partners Jet Airways and Indigo, we are pleased to welcome two new non-stop links to Pune and Vijayawada. These new routes reflect India’s importance to Changi as a key growth market and further augment the airport as the region’s leading air hub. We hope that more Indian travellers will enjoy what Singapore has to offer.”
Now, Indian nationals transiting through Singapore can enjoy two-way transit through the newly enhanced 96-hour Visa Free Transit Facility (VFTF), regardless of whether they are travelling by air or sea. Indian passengers transiting in Singapore and those on fly-cruise itineraries will welcome this piece of good news as the previous VFTF was only applicable to one-way air travel.
In tandem, two new Authorised Visa Agents (AVA) have also been appointed in Vijayawada. Located in Labbipet, Indians living in Vijayawada can now apply for their visas directly with the AVAs instead of going through sub-agents, making it a shorter and more convenient visa application process for travellers.
