Bengaluru likely base for Qatar Airways' India subsidiary

Gulf carrier Qatar Airways' proposed full service airline in India is likely to set up its base in Bengaluru and provide connectivity from there to other parts of the country.

At present, budget carrier AirAsia India, which is a joint venture between Malaysia's AirAsia group and India's Tata Sons, is the only local carrier which has its operational base in Bengaluru.

Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha-based full service carrier, had last month announced in Berlin that Qatar Airways was going to join hands with the investment arm of State of Qatar to start a domestic airline in India with a 100 per cent investment.

"Qatar Airways proposed Indian subsidiary is likely to make Bengaluru as its base instead of Delhi or Mumbai," an industry source said.

Qatar Airways, which is among the top three Gulf carriers, has been exploring investment opportunities in India.

The source also said that the new airline is expected provide connectivity first from the southern India cities to other parts of the country and then expand to other regions.

Significantly, six cities of the total 13 that Qatar Airways flies to in India are in the South.

A Qatar Airways spokesperson, in an e-mail response to

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)