From Gorakhpur to Gatwick, Indian airlines’ big plans
Spurred by rising demand for both leisure and business travel and improving airport infrastructure, Indian airlines have laid out plans to fly to more domestic and international destinations this summer season, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
For instance, Akasa Air plans to connect to cities such as Darbhanga, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Ranchi, Thiruvananthapuram, Durgapur, Kanpur, and Patna, as per the latest summer schedule data released by the DGCA. This aligns with the rise in passenger traffic at some of these airports.
For instance, between April 2023 and February 2024,the airport at Prayagraj, a religious destination at the confluence of three rivers, Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati, saw 560,226 passengers, marking an 8% increase from a year ago and 65% surge compared to the 339,134 passengers travelling through the city’s airport during the pre-pandemic period of April 2019 to February 2020.
Similarly, the airport at Darbhanga, currently undergoing expansion, has been consistently recording an annual passenger count of over 600,000, despite being launched around three years ago in November 2020. It has become a vital hub for the highly mobile local population travelling to destinations across India for work.
The summer schedule also allocated Tata Group-backed Air India slots to operate nonstop flights from Delhi to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. In addition, the airline also plans to operate direct flights from Bengaluru to Dubai, as well as to London Gatwick airport.
Although slots are allocated in consultation with stakeholders, airlines take the final call to launch flights in line with their network strategy, demand, and market dynamics. Slots allocated by the DGCA permits an airline to operate a flight.
Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, received slots to launch direct flights between Mumbai and Kathmandu, and from Chennai and Kolkata to Dhaka. The carrier, undergoing a merger with AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia
India, also plans to start flights from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru, Pune, Varanasi, Kolkata Goa and Hyderabad. It has also got slots for Chandigarh-Bengaluru.
It will also be the first major carrier to launch a flights from Hindon airport to Hyderabad, Kolkata, Goa, Bengaluru, and Pune. At present, the Hindon airport is only connected through regional carriers such as Star Air and Flybig.
So, what explains the rush by airlines to fly to these less travelled destinations? According to ratings agency Icra domestic air passenger traffic is likely to have grown by 8-13% in FY24, reaching 150-155 million, surpassing the pre-covid-19 levels of 141.2 million in FY20.
"We expect demand for air travel to remain robust, and the overall operating environment to remain conducive," said an IndiGo spokesperson to Mint.
Icra expects the momentum to continue in FY25, with similar estimated annual growth, aided by rising demand for leisure and business travel as well as improving airport infrastructure. Besides, it expects international passenger traffic for Indian airlines to surpass the peak levels of 25.9 million witnessed in FY19, this fiscal year. with an estimated 25-27 million passengers up by 7-12% from a year earlier. Icra also expects FY25 international passenger traffic to grow by 7-12% to 27-29 million.
According to Icra, domestic air passenger traffic is likely to have grown by 8-13% in FY24, reaching 150-155 million