Bangkok Airways plans to expand its footprint in India's burgeoning air travel market with four more Indian destinations.

The carrier is keen to operate flights from Bangkok to Lucknow, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, pending securing traffic rights from Indian aviation authorities, said airline president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth.

Its first foray into India occurred in March this year with a daily flight from Bangkok to Mumbai.

On Sep. 26, services to Bangalore were initiated with a load factor in the 70% range for its early stages.

Subject to the provision of traffic slots, Bangkok Airways hopes to launch regular service to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, largely to cater to Buddhist pilgrims next year.

It will phase in the other three cities in over the next few years.

"India offers huge market potential and there is robust demand for air travel between India and Thailand," said Capt Puttipong.

The airline also feels the growing low-cost carriers are not necessarily competitors, because Bangkok Airways is a full service airline.

Arrivals from India to Thailand in the first eight months of this year jumped 34.7% year-on-year to 627,670.

That represents 4.9% of Thailand's total arrivals in the period, the Tourism Authority of Thailand reports.

Expanding its Indian coverage is a strategic priority for the airline in the short term, ramping up frequencies on existing routes rather than launching new ones.

Its only new route firmly set to launch is Koh Samui-Kuala Lumpur around next March as the airline expands traffic through its lucrative base in the Gulf of Thailand.

The company will bump up its Bangkok-Bangalore flights to daily from December, from five a week at present, as an additional A319 jetliner will arrive next month.

The airline is due to take delivery of two more Airbus aircraft next year - an A319 in February and an A320 in October.

The new aircraft will be used to increase its Indian coverage.