Air India announced on Wednesday that it would be adding capacity to a number of flights. From June 1st, there will be 3,500 additional seats on routes from Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai. In addition to this, a number of domestic routes will see increased frequencies also.
India’s flag carrying airline, Air India, is boosting its flight schedule ahead of the busy summer months. The move to add capacity to its most popular domestic routes aims to make up some of the lost capacity incurred as a result of the halt in operations of Jet Airways.
The added capacity
The national carrier will be offering an additional 3,500 seats on its Mumbai to Dubai service from the 1st June. As well as this, 3,500 seats will be added to its Delhi to Dubai service from 2nd June.
These new flights will be serviced by Boeing 787 Dreamliners, possibly two that were previously grounded due to maintenance issues.
Air India say these flights will provide the ‘complete Dreamliner experience’, offering more legroom, more baggage allowance, mood lighting and gourmet Indian food. To celebrate the launch of these new flights, the airline is offering promotional fares for all flights between now and July 31st. In a statement, they said:
"The airline will offer one way Economy class promotional fare of Rs 7777 (all inclusive) from both Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai for sale and travel up to July 31, 2019,"
On the domestic front, Air India will add frequency on flights between:
- Delhi and Raipur
- Delhi and Bengaluru
- Delhi and Amritsar
- Chennai and Ahmedabad
- Chennai and Kolkata
- Delhi and Vadodara
- Mumbai and Vizag
New flights are planned to be added from June 5th between Bhopal and Pune as well as between Varanasi and Chennai. A statement from the airline elaborated:
"The number of flights on Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi will be increased from present 14 flights per week to 20 flights per week by introducing third frequency to the historical city of Tals,"
These additional flights come on the back of the news that Air India will increase capacity between Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata using their 747-400s.
Taking advantage of the demise of Jet
With Jet Airways grounded, the Indian aviation authority, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been quick to reallocate their slots to rival airlines. Of the international routes, Air India bagged the majority of Jet’s quota, while Vistara, SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo have been able to launch new routes as a result.
Jet Airways was the largest operator in India, with a market share of almost 14%. Air India’s boost in capacity will serve to make up for some of these lost seats, and just in time for the busy summer season.
Aside of Air India, SpiceJet are adding flights rapidly, using a number of 737s previously operated by Jet. So far, they have announced a staggering 106 new flights, including 73 from Mumbai and 16 from Delhi. Indian Express reports that the carrier plans to add 20 more flights soon, mainly from Mumbai.