Low-cost carrier IndiGo is starting ten new services from Bangalore in a bid to counter AirAsia India, which has made the ‘Silicon City’ its hub.

IndiGo will now fly to Kochi, Chandigarh and Goa from Bangalore besides other destinations like Kolkata, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram.

The choice of Kochi, Goa and Chandigarh is read by experts as IndiGo’s efforts to ensure that it does not lose its market to AirAsia India, which has started its operations on June 12. AirAsia India flies to Kochi and Goa and will be shortly starting flights to Chandigarh from Bangalore next week.

Also, its emphasis on Kolkata shows its plans to pre-empt AirAsia India’s entry into the eastern parts of the country. Bringing more services in Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad also points to IndiGo’s plans to spruce up its operations in these cities, which could be a potential target of AirAsia India. IndiGo said it was starting 8 new daily non-stop flights connecting Bangalore, Kolkata, Kochi and Hyderabad. 

From August 28, the schedule sees the introduction of first daily non-stop flight between Kochi-Kolkata via Bangalore, 2nd daily flight between Kochi-Hyderabad via Bangalore, 3rd daily non-stop flight between Kochi-Bangalore. The new schedule also introduces sixth daily non-stop flight between Kolkata-Bangalore and seventh daily non-stop flight between Hyderabad-Bangalore.

From September 1, the airline is introducing new daily non-stop flights between Bangalore-Chandigarh, Chandigarh-Srinagar, Bangalore-Goa and second daily non-stop flight between Bangalore-Thiruvananthapuram.

With this, IndiGo will now operate­ 528 daily flights, connecting 36 destinations, a statement said.