New Delhi: It could well be the seesaw of Indian aviation. IndiGo, which now accounts for one of every two domestic flyers, is increasing its international capacity so rapidly that the rise in its foreign flyers this January-March quarter (5.2 lakh) was almost the same as the decline seen in number of by Jet Airways’ foreign flyers (5.1 lakh). Air India Express chipped in with an impressive 19% rise in foreign flyers and the quarter did not see any fall in international travel to and from India. In fact it saw a 3.3% increase.
Jet, which stopped flying on April 17, was having its aircraft repossessed by unpaid lessors since late last year leading to reduction of flights. While it did have a few flights to Europe and Toronto, the majority of its international operations were on single aisle Boeing 737s to neighbouring countries — mainly the Gulf.
IndiGo, AI Express and others added large number of flights to their single aisle-range destinations. To be sure, Jet’s disappearance from the skies will be felt in international numbers in April-June and perhaps July-September quarters. But the expansion plans of other Indian airlines like SpiceJet, Vistara and GoAir could at least numerically in terms of number of international flyers fill Jet’s void by the year-end. If Air India divestment is successful, that would further propel Indian aviation.
IndiGo chief commercial officer Willy Boulter said: “We… now offer connectivity to over 1,300 city pairs… While we remain focused on building our domestic network, we will also continue to connect international destinations to additional cities in India and also open up new international destinations.”
“Among 18 international destinations that IndiGo currently operates, 70 return flights are flying into the Middle East market. Some of the recent additions in 2019 included daily nonstops between Mumbai and Dammam, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi; and Delhi- Abu Dhabi. We also added flights between Kolkata-Hong Kong, Chennai-Kuala Lumpur and increased flights to our existing destinations of Bangkok, Singapore and Kathmandu,” Boulter added while explaining the increase in international operations, adding, “We plan to open flights to Chengdu shortly, following by Guangzhou, subject to obtaining more traffic rights, we will add more points in China.”
AI Express CEO K Shyam Sundar said the airline had 81 daily international flights last April and now that number is up to 90. While the number of destinations it serves abroad has remained at 13 in that period, this April it was flying to and from 20 Indian cities — up from 17 last April.
“AI Express board has cleared a proposal to induct 11 more aircraft on dry lease basis. The matter has been referred to the (aviation) ministry for government clearance in view of the prevailing circumstances (hinting at the proposed divestment). We have already drawn up a viable plan of operations for the proposed fleet expansion. There has been tremendous growth in AI Express’ load factor and revenues in the current fiscal. At the current rate, the airline’s turnover should go well past Rs 5,000 crore in FY 19-20 against budgeted figure of Rs 4,700 crore. Revenue in FY 2018-19 was just a little over Rs 4,200 crore,” Shyam Sundar told TOI.
18/06/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Jet, which stopped flying on April 17, was having its aircraft repossessed by unpaid lessors since late last year leading to reduction of flights. While it did have a few flights to Europe and Toronto, the majority of its international operations were on single aisle Boeing 737s to neighbouring countries — mainly the Gulf.
IndiGo, AI Express and others added large number of flights to their single aisle-range destinations. To be sure, Jet’s disappearance from the skies will be felt in international numbers in April-June and perhaps July-September quarters. But the expansion plans of other Indian airlines like SpiceJet, Vistara and GoAir could at least numerically in terms of number of international flyers fill Jet’s void by the year-end. If Air India divestment is successful, that would further propel Indian aviation.
IndiGo chief commercial officer Willy Boulter said: “We… now offer connectivity to over 1,300 city pairs… While we remain focused on building our domestic network, we will also continue to connect international destinations to additional cities in India and also open up new international destinations.”
“Among 18 international destinations that IndiGo currently operates, 70 return flights are flying into the Middle East market. Some of the recent additions in 2019 included daily nonstops between Mumbai and Dammam, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi; and Delhi- Abu Dhabi. We also added flights between Kolkata-Hong Kong, Chennai-Kuala Lumpur and increased flights to our existing destinations of Bangkok, Singapore and Kathmandu,” Boulter added while explaining the increase in international operations, adding, “We plan to open flights to Chengdu shortly, following by Guangzhou, subject to obtaining more traffic rights, we will add more points in China.”
AI Express CEO K Shyam Sundar said the airline had 81 daily international flights last April and now that number is up to 90. While the number of destinations it serves abroad has remained at 13 in that period, this April it was flying to and from 20 Indian cities — up from 17 last April.
“AI Express board has cleared a proposal to induct 11 more aircraft on dry lease basis. The matter has been referred to the (aviation) ministry for government clearance in view of the prevailing circumstances (hinting at the proposed divestment). We have already drawn up a viable plan of operations for the proposed fleet expansion. There has been tremendous growth in AI Express’ load factor and revenues in the current fiscal. At the current rate, the airline’s turnover should go well past Rs 5,000 crore in FY 19-20 against budgeted figure of Rs 4,700 crore. Revenue in FY 2018-19 was just a little over Rs 4,200 crore,” Shyam Sundar told TOI.
18/06/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
0 comments:
Post a Comment