Air Manas starts 3rd Delhi-Bishkek
Air Manas, the Kyrgyzstan-based airline, will now be operating three times a week between Delhi and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
The new addition comes after an overwhelming response that the airline as well as destination Kyrgyzstan has got from India. Yusuf Serdar Erman, VP - Commercial, Air Manas, says, “We opened the Delhi-Bishkek route on February 20, 2015. We are happy that our business is growing logarithmically and there is a huge demand from India for Kyrgyzstan. Thus, we are starting out third flight from Delhi to Bishkek. In fact, the route would offer better connections to Moscow, as well as Istanbul.”
Throwing light on destination Kyrgyzstan, Sharad C. Goel, Managing Director, Lark Logistics, the GSA for Air Manas in India, says, “It’s a beautiful country and a potential tourist destination for Indians as it hasn’t been explored as yet. It is called the Switzerland of Central Asia. Ever since Air Manas’ service started, we have been able to send around 8000-10,000 Indian tourists to the country, and in the last two months, the figure has already crossed 3000.”
Air Manas also held a roadshow in Delhi recently to reach out to the trade and corporates as well. Goel, says, “With this roadshow we aim to meet our target. Leisure tourism is already established, while MICE tourism still needs to be developed in the right earnest. After the roadshow, we have received 10-15 enquiries of big groups of more than 100 people each. In fact, Kyrgyzstan could be a very beautiful wedding destination. And the biggest advantage is that the flight is only three hours, and the rates are very low. We start from $300 plus, and with big group, the rates are fixed. We do not charge anything extra.”
Erman adds, “Travel agents can add the GDS to sell our products like Amadeus. Now, we are also opening our system to Abacus as well as Sabre for Indian market. Also, from Delhi there is a lack of flights to China hence starting August this year we will be connecting our Indian guests to Beijing via Bishkek.”