India’s largest carrier IndiGo has announced new domestic routes in a bid to increase domestic connectivity and bolster its network. Almost all the destinations featured on these routes are tier-2 cities, highlighting the airline’s focus on non-metro connectivity.
Eight new flights
On October 20th, budget carrier IndiGo announced the launch of eight new domestic routes, mainly focusing on connecting tier-2 destinations in India. The new “exclusive” flights on the Bhopal (BHO)-Udaipur (UDR), Ahmedabad (AMD)-Jammu (IXJ), Ranchi (IXR)-Bhubaneshwar (BBI), and Indore (IDR)-Chandigarh (IXC) routes will feature on the carrier’s winter schedule.
Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer, IndiGo, commented,
“We are pleased to enhance connectivity and accessibility by introducing exclusive flights on new domestic routes between seven states. We will start direct flights between Bhopal and Udaipur under the UDAN scheme. Enhanced connectivity between the political and commercial capitals of these states will help bolster economic growth through increased trade opportunities and tourist footprint. We will strive to stay true to our promise of affordable fares, on-time performance, courteous and hassle-free service across our wide network.”
The flights will operate as per the following schedule:
|
Flight No. |
Origin |
Destination |
Frequency |
Effective |
Departure |
Arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
6E 6687 |
Ahmedabad |
Jammu |
Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun |
October 30th, 2022 |
09:30 |
11:30 |
|
6E 6378 |
Jammu |
Ahmedabad |
Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun |
October 30th, 2022 |
12:05 |
13:45 |
|
6E 6521 |
Ranchi |
Bhubaneshwar |
Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun |
October 30th, 2022 |
10:10 |
11:30 |
|
6E 6522 |
Bhubaneshwar |
Ranchi |
Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun |
October 30th, 2022 |
12:00 |
13:00 |
|
6E 7973 |
Bhopal |
Udaipur |
Tue, Thu, Sat |
November 1st, 2022 |
17:20 |
18:50 |
|
6E 7974 |
Udaipur |
Bhopal |
Tue, Thu, Sat |
November 1st, 2022 |
19:10 |
20:40 |
|
6E 0959 |
Indore |
Chandigarh |
Tue, Thu, Sat |
November 1st, 2022 |
10:05 |
11:50 |
|
6E 6738 |
Chandigarh |
Indore |
Tue, Thu, Sat |
November 1st, 2022 |
12:30 |
14:40 |
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Regional connectivity
With a growing middle class and expanding aviation infrastructure across non-metro cities in India, airlines have begun to realize the untapped potential in non-trunk routes. IndiGo has also been expanding its regional presence lately to stay ahead in the game, particularly as new players such as Akasa Air are focusing heavily on such routes.
IndiGo’s Bhopal-Udaipur flight will be part of the government’s regional connectivity scheme called UDAN, which offers subsidies and concessions to airlines to sustain such services.
The airline also recently successfully performed a test landing at the newly constructed Hollangi Airport, also known as Donyi Polo Airport, in another one of the North East states – Arunachal Pradesh and is expected to start flights from there to Kolkata (CCU) and Guwahati (GAU).
International expansion
The domestic expansion follows a number of recent international services launched by IndiGo to the Middle East. The airline announced that it will add a direct flight between Mumbai (BOM) and Istanbul (IST) from January 1st, 2023.
Check out more Indian aviation news here.
Earlier, it also launched another international flight out of Mumbai – direct service to Ras Al Khaimah (RKT) in the UAE. In September, the airline also announced a new Hyderabad (HYD)-Riyadh (RUH) connection from October 30th and more frequencies on Hyderabad-Doha (DOH) and Dubai (DXB)-Mangalore (IXE) routes from October 30th and October 31st, respectively.
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