Air India’s international transfer traffic doubles with flight additions
Air India’s international transfer trac has doubled over the last two years, underpinning its e orts to develop Delhi as a hub. This comes on the back of service additions to Europe and East Asia. Transfer trac refers to international passengers connecting via Delhi airport.
Air India did not share a figure regarding its transfer trac. Sources, however, said passengers connecting to international flights make up about 10 per cent of Air India’s foreign trac at Delhi. “Since privatisation, we have added new flights from Delhi to Birmingham, Milan, Copenhagen, Vienna, and Amsterdam in Europe, which are complemented by new flights to Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka along with more flights to Kathmandu, Colombo, Singapore, and Bangkok. Our international-international trac flows have more than doubled as a consequence of these additions,” Air India said.
Overall, international
International flights at Delhi grew 10% on a y-o-y basis in May while those of Air India grew by 15.5%
flights at Delhi grew nearly 10 per cent on a year-onyear basis in May while those of Air India grew by 15.5 per cent, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium show. The increase in flights also coincides with the expansion of transfer area in Delhi airport with additional F&B outlets, frisking booths and x-ray machines. These initiatives were taken by the airport to increase transit trac flows.
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Last week, the airline announced additional frequencies from Delhi to Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Milan. Air India has also announced a four-times weekly service to Zurich from June 16.
Zurich is the base for Air India’s Star Alliance partner airline Swiss. The airport also serves other Star Alliance carriers such as Ethiopian Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. Besides that, Air India also has code share partnership with Lufthansa and Swiss, which it recently extended to cover its flights to Australia.
“Partner presence is one of the many factors that play a role in determining which stations to expand further capacity into, along with demand supply balance, trade and immigration flows, etc,” Air India said.
“Within the Star Alliance framework, Lufthansa, Swiss and Air India enjoy comprehensive access to both the Europe and India markets through interline agreements. Furthermore, these airlines have formed a codeshare relationship covering 24 European cities such as Amsterdam, Zurich, Dublin, Stockholm, Prague, and more, facilitated through Frankfurt, as well as 12 Indian cities via Delhi and Mumbai,” it added.