Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia has made announcement about the launching of its maiden flight to India's Bangalore city, carrying 15 kids having congenital heart disease who need open heart surgery.

The kids will have surgical operation at the Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Institute in Bangalore, whose chief Devi Shetty is a familiar name here as he regularly performs surgeries.

Kathleen Tan, AirAsia group commercial regional head, stated that the newly introduced service was expected to promote medical tourism in India.

Led by ethnic Indian Tony Fernandes, AirAsia eyes a big demand from the health segment with patients looking for medical help from institutions based in Bangalore.

"The daily service is also expected to cater to significant traffic including business and leisure travellers and students to and from the technology hub in southern India," Tan said.

With the launch, Bangalore turned the seventh Indian destination for AirAsia after Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Tiruchirapalli and Mumbai.

The carrier, which will be using its brand new Airbus A320 aircraft on the Kuala Lumpur-Bangalore route, reported a 100% load on its initial flight.

AirAsia is also offering fares as low as RM25 ($7.5) to those travelling from Bangalore as part of its recently-announced promotion of one million free seats. (With Inputs from Agencies)