Bengaluru to function as hub of Thomas Cook’s charter operations for south India

The travel firm’s maiden air charter service will be between Bengaluru and Bhutanese Capital Thimphu, a three-hour flight, starting in April 2024

Thomas Cook’s maiden air charter service will be between Bengaluru and Bhutanese Capital Thimphu, a three-hour flight, starting in April 2024. | Photo Credit: Photo for representation only

Thomas Cook (India) Limited, an omnichannel travel services company, has forayed into charter services to cater to the growing interest among customers in South India for holiday destinations in South Asian and European countries.

Bengaluru will function as the hub of Thomas Cook’s charter operations for South India and leisure/holidays tourists from across the region would be able to board the charter flights departing from the city, Romil Pant, executive vice-president & Business Head (Holidays), Thomas Cook, told The Hindu on Wednesday.

The travel firm’s maiden air charter service will be between Bengaluru and Bhutanese Capital Thimphu, a three-hour flight, starting in April 2024.

“We will hire a 126-seater airplane from Bhutan Airlines and will operate five charter flights every eight days starting from April 27. This is the first time we are entering into the chartering space and we may extend this service to connect other neighbouring countries, including Nepal and Sri Lanka and also some European destinations,” Mr Pant said.

Commenting on the rationale of starting the charter service from Bengaluru, he said Karnataka and Bengaluru were the company’s biggest markets in the country. For instance, the southern region solely contributed 45% of Thomas Cook’s total business in the country.

Currently, there is no direct flight to Bhutan from the southern region, only Delhi and Kolkata offer direct flights and land travel also takes a lot of time.

“South India is the largest contributor to the holidays business for us, overtaking the West and North India. Bengaluru and Karnatka has emerged as our number 1 source market for the leisure segment. Huge demand is coming from small cities including Mysuru, Udupi, and Hubballi too,” he added.

Commenting on travel trends in Bengaluru, Mr. Pant said the travel firm had witnessed a 60% increase in demand this year compared to 2019, the travel spend also increased by up to 30%, and average holiday duration has increased to seven days from three days compared to 2019 levels. The most favourite destinations for Bengalureans have been Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Mauritius, Singapore, Dubai, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, and Georgia while Andamans, Kashmir, North-East, Rajasthan, Kerala, Coorg, Chickmagaluru, Kabini, and Ooty are their favourite domestic getaways.

“We are very bullish on Bengaluru and Karnataka and we are investing deeply in this high potential market and are expanding our footprint here. We expect to see a business uptick of 30% from Karnataka in 2024,” Mr. Pant added.