Red-eye flights draw airlines queue

The ministry of civil aviation has offered perks like the waiver of landing, parking and navigation charges at airports, to encourage domestic airlines to start “red eye” flights. Such a move is expected to reduce congestion at Indian airports.
Red eye flights are operated by an airline late at night or early in the morning, during the period from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am. The name “red eye” has origins in the fact that people have red eyes after long nights.
While most of the international flights from India operate at night, domestic operations have thus far been confined in the 0500 hrs to 2200 hrs time band. The advent of red eye flights could result in offering better connectivity for international passengers who arrive late at night at Indian airports.
Airlines like Kingfisher and Jet Airways currently have has a few red eye flights but in limited numbers. Following the Civil Aviation ministry’s encouragement of red eye flights, GoAir has been the first to bite the bait and has come out with plans to start late night flights connecting four cities.
A Simplifly Deccan official said: “We would explore the market acceptance for such a product while keeping in mind the encouragement for late night flights of the ministry”. SpiceJet, on the other hand, has no plans to start such flights and has doubts over their commercial viability.
17/10/07 Nirmal John/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Oct 2007, General Aviation Oct 2007