The Financial Express said that while INDIGO, a low-cost carrier with a 63.2% domestic market share, starts on an international expansion plan under CEO Pieter Elbers, it is considering adding more direct flights to Central Europe and the Far East.
Two direct flights from Mumbai to Nairobi and Jakarta marked the beginning of the first phase of this development campaign earlier this week. Georgia’s Tbilisi was connected to Delhi. Later this month, there will be direct flights to Baku (Azerbaijan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), and Almaty (Kazakhstan) in Central Asia. To put things in perspective, on international flights, IndiGo competes with the Air India network. Industry insiders estimate that IndiGo has about 16% of the market, compared to Air India’s 23%.
According to Vinay Malhotra, global head of sales for IndiGo, a number of international locations are reachable from India in six to seven hours of flight time, creating opportunities for the low-cost airline to transport people to and from these locations.
Given that a significant section of the world’s population lives within a six- to seven-hour flight of India, the country is in a favourable geographic position. In addition, a handful of Airbus A321 XLR planes are among the aircraft IndiGo expects to operate over the next ten years. “These aircraft will allow us to travel to locations in Central Europe on the west coast as well as locations in the far east,” Malhotra said.
Considering the continued high demand for direct flight services on this route, industry sources believe the airline may target locations like Frankfurt, Rome, and Tel Aviv in the future. It may also consider operating a flight directly from Mumbai to Bali as early as October of this year. In the upcoming months, the firm may establish a connection between Delhi and Jakarta as part of a larger plan to connect major domestic hubs with important overseas destinations.
The airline now serves 28 international and 79 domestic points (Shivamogga will be connected this month through Bengaluru). Elbers had previously stated that after the company’s current phase of worldwide expansion was over, it will reach 32 different countries.
For instance, the airline will offer direct service between Dammam and Lucknow, Chennai, and Kochi in West Asia, as well as between Abu Dhabi and Goa, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad; Ras Al Khaimah and Hyderabad; Bahrain and Jeddah.
In addition, in August, there will be more frequent flights between Mumbai and Dhaka, and this month, daily flights between Delhi and Hong Kong will restart after being suspended because to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Through its codeshare partnership with Turkish Airlines, IndiGo has improved its access to Europe on the western side. Currently, the codeshare agreement provides connection from Istanbul to 33 European destinations.
The business recently added Casablanca in Morocco as part of its codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines, according to Malhotra, who claims that four US points currently — Washington, New York, Boston, and Chicago — are accessed via codeshare agreements with Turkish Airlines.
Additionally, the airline has code-sharing agreements with six other airlines, including Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, American Airlines, and Qatar Airways, which allow it to connect to many other locations across the globe. Malhotra claims that as part of its future growth goals, the company is looking at codeshare agreements with additional carriers in addition to direct flight services.
Source- Travel biz