Qatar Airways has announced plans to fly daily to Bangalore, the capital of India's Karnataka state, from February 22.

Bangalore (also known as Bengaluru), India's top information technology hub, is also a major industrial and commercial centre.

Flights will depart Doha at 2100 and arrive in Bangalore at 0335. Return flights will leave Bangalore at 0435 and arrive in Doha at 0640. 

Dotted by numerous parks and tree-lined avenues, Bangalore is known as the “Garden City of India”. Considered the IT capital of India, it is home to numerous computer software, aerospace and telecommunications companies.

With the addition of Bangalore, Qatar Airways’ Indian capacity will rise to 71 flights a week spread across 11 cities. These include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Cochin, Kozhikode, and recently introduced Goa and Amritsar.

The Doha – Bangalore route will be operated by an Airbus A320, featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.

Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker said the new route demonstrated the airline’s ongoing commitment to the Indian market.

“2010 is going to be yet another exciting year for Qatar Airways and I am delighted that India will once again figure prominently in our expansion plans with the launch of Bangalore from February 22 to further strengthen our operations in the country.

“Having recently launched flights to Goa and Amritsar, our new Bangalore flights will provide even more choice for holidaymakers to India, but also provide a strategic air link for IT companies in and around Bangalore with rest of the world,” he said.

With excellent flight connections from Europe, United States, Africa and the Middle East, the new route is expected be popular, said the airline.

Whether flying to London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Nairobi, Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat, New York, Washington or Houston, Qatar Airways offers excellent short connections to such diverse cities, it said.

The airline also provides convenient connections to many destinations across the US, including Bangalore’s sister city of San Francisco, through code share flights operated by partner carrier United Airlines.

To celebrate the new route, Qatar Airways offering launch fares from key international markets to Bangalore.-TradeArabia News Service