Two flights a week each to Singapore and Mumbai from May to December
Drukair Schedule 2012 National airline Drukair has added two new routes for its summer schedule 2012.

Drukair will operate two flights each to Singapore and the Indian city of Mumbai, according to its summer schedule (May to December 2012) to be released this weekend.

Drukair commercial manager, Tshering Penjor, did not reveal airfare specifics on the two new routes. He said that the airfare to Singapore would be “marginally higher” than its Paro-Bangkok route.

Bhutanese are currently charged Nu 25,546 for a full fare round trip to Bangkok, and Nu 12,487 for a one-way journey. Tshering Penjor claimed that the Drukair airfare for Singapore would be cheaper than stopping over in Bangkok and flying to the city state.

The flight time from Paro to Singapore will be four hours, which includes a stopover in Kolkata, India. For Mumbai, Drukair is looking to charge an airfare close to what it charges for its Paro-Bangkok sector. The flight time will be three hours and 20 minutes, and will not include stopovers.

Tshering Penjor reiterated that operationalisation of the two new routes is still subject to Drukair acquiring a third airbus jet. While Druk Holding and Investments has not yet approved the acquisition, Tshering Penjor said that, as far as Drukair is concerned, it is looking at introducing a third jet by the end of April, and expanding its routes thereafter.

But with new airbus jets not expected to be available until 2013-14, the national airline is expected to lease its third jet aircraft on a long term basis.

On passenger traffic on the new routes, Tshering Penjor said Drukair’s primary role is to increase gateways to the country and increase capacity. He said that the Singapore route would be a channel for the China market, also including countries like Malaysia and Vietnam. He added that the tourism industry will also have to respond to this increased capacity.

Drukair, partnering with an Indian tourism company, experimented with the Paro-Mumbai route, flying a number of chartered flights earlier this year. The airline considered the experiment a success.