Indian LCC Indigo continues to surprise us with unusual routes and dump capacity on existing routes like there is no tomorrow!
IndiGo (6E) has opened bookings on Bengaluru - Langkawi sector wef 16/12/24. Flights will operate daily on the following schedule:
6E1043 BLR 0340 ➣ 1025 LGK
6E1044 LGK 1125 ➣ 1255 BLR
IndiGo is also adding a 2nd daily flight on the Bengaluru - Colombo route, starting 10th December 2024. This takes the total flights by 6E on this route to 14x weekly.
6E1163 BLR 2015 ➣ 2145 CMB
6E1164 CMB 2245 ➣ 0015+1 BLR
Increased frequency to Colombo from Bengaluru is a good thing. Fares on this short route have been on an upward trend to the point of getting unaffordable. Indigo competes with SriLankan and Air India on the sector.
Hearing from airline sources that Air India is moving BLR-CMB over to AI Express while it adds another frequency on DEL-CMB(2x) and MAA-CMB(3x) and also adds BOM-CMB. Rumors of the noon AI MAA-CMB flight switching to 787 operating on the DEL-MAA-CMB-MAA-DEL routing. It will operate the evening AI440 6pm MAA-DEL on the return. Incidentally, this was the routing of the A300 flights IC840/256 by Indian Airlines (IC) for 25+ years till the AB3 was retired.
The airline's other 2 flights on the MAA-CMB sector will continue to be operated by A321 equipment. The airline's existing DEL-CMB flight AI281/282 will continue to operate with A321 equipment but arrival into DEL might be changed to a 3pm departure and 10pm arrival ex DEL to ensure connection opportunities with their Departure/Arrival Banks to North America.
Good to see Air India once again deploying Widebody capacity at prime time on Metro routes like IC used to do in the old days. From the 70s till the merger in 2007, domestic carrier Indian Airlines used to deploy 273 seater A300 aircraft on morning & evening departures in both directions between BOM, DEL, MAA, BLR, HYD, CCU and (oddly) TRV as part of their "same day return" service for business travellers. IC also offered same-day return service between 22 other city pairs using 126 seat 737-200 (later 146 seat A320) aircraft. This competitive feature went away with the ill-begotten merger and the need to build the merged airline's new DEL hub which allowed KingFisher and later Indigo to sneak in and dump capacity. With 140 A321 & 70 A320s now on order plus 190 MAX8s for subsidiary AIX, Air India is making a triumphant return on the territory they vacated in 2009. Indigo need to watch their back!
Opinion: While there is a case for deploying capacity on Early morning & Evening departures from 11 cities, it is not optimal to deploy international configured aircraft on these short routes. A sub-fleet of upto 25x A330-900R aircraft in a regional config and lower MTOW with 24 Regional Business Class (recliners) in 2x2x2 layout, 28W in 2x3x2 layout, and 312 economy seats in 2x4x2 layout could be profitably deployed on these routes in addition to regional international routes from Kerala to Middle East and SEA destinations like BKK and KUL.
Regional carrier Fly91(IC code 😅)
has launched 2 new routes ex-Pune, with services to Goa and Sindhudurg
with ATR72 aircraft. Pune-Goa flights will operate daily while the
Sindhudurg flight will operate 2x/week.
Pune – Goa
IC1375 PNQ 1050 ➣ 1210 GOX AT7 67
IC1375 PNQ 1155 ➣ 1320 GOX AT7 x67
IC1376 GOX 0605 ➣ 0720 PNQ AT7 67
IC1376 GOX 1020 ➣ 1135 PNQ AT7 x67
Pune – SindhudurgIC5302 PNQ 0750 ➣ 0855 SDW AT7 67
IC5303 SDW 0915 ➣ 1025 PNQ AT7 67
Air India Express (IX)
has added 9 domestic routes. Some of these routes are resumption of
service on routes discontinued earlier. Some of these routes are going
to be operated by India Connect (I5) formerly known as Air Asia India. All flights will be on the IX code.
Chennai – Jaipur from 01NOV24 1xdaily MAX8
Chennai – Pune from 01NOV24 1xdaily MAX8
Delhi – Indore from 27OCT24 1xdaily MAX8
Goa – Chennai from 01NOV24 1xdaily MAX8
Kochi – Chennai from 06NOV24 2xweekly 738
Kochi – Pune from 27OCT24 6xweekly MAX8
Kolkata – Indore from 15DEC24 1xdaily A320neo
Kolkata – Port Blair from 15DEC24 1xdaily A320neo
Vishakhapatnam – Vijayawada 1xdaily A320neo
Cathay Pacific (CX) is resuming service on Hong Kong – Hyderabad route, from Summer 2025 flying season. The oneWorld member will operate 3x/week flights from 30MAR25, increasing to 5 weekly from the Winter Schedule.
The HYD flight will operate with Airbus A330-300 equipment in their Regional configuration 24J + 293Y with Recliner Seats in Business Class.
CX673 HKG 2135 ➣ 0045+1 HYD 33P Ex Mo, Tu
CX672 HYD 0150 ➣ 0930 HKG 33P Ex Tu, We
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