Tag Archives: Indigo

IndiGo has announced daily non-stop flights from Agra to Bengaluru, Bhopal an Lucknow respectively. The new flights will be effective from @8th March, 2021. The news was welcomed by the travel trade in Agra.

In order to further strengthen domestic connectivity, IndiGo plans to initiate flights from seven new stations subject to regulatory approvals and slot allocation. Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo, says, “We plan to open Leh and Darbhanga in February, followed by Kurnool and Agra in March, Bareilly and Durgapur in April, and Rajkot in May 2021.”

IndiGo has recommenced operations from 8 cities in the Northeast—Agartala, Aizawl, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Jorhat & Silchar. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer, IndiGo said, “Being the airline with the most connections from the North-eastern states to the entire country, we take immense pleasure in slowly and steadily getting back to the recovery path on the back of strengthening confidence in air travel. We are providing nonstop connectivity to our customers from Northeast to key metro cities, catering to the increasing demand for direct flights owing to the pandemic. We have established more than mandated procedures and guidelines to provide a safe and hassle-free travel experience onboard our lean, clean flying machines. We will continue to strengthen our network and connectivity in the Northeast, in line with the government policies and focus on development in the region.”

IndiGo is all set to start operating its direct flight to Mumbai from the Gaya airport from December 25. The new connection would boost Jain and Buddhist tourism in the region. Already, IndiGo is operating a daily flight between Delhi and Gaya. The Mumbai-Gaya flight will be operated four days a week – Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. There are reports of starting direct flights to Bengaluru and Kolkata from Gaya by next year. Bookings for the Mumbai flight have already started.

Thomas Cook India has partnered with IndiGo to launch air-inclusive ‘Crazy Deals IndiGo Special’ that includes a range of options and value-adds at great prices. Domestic destinations include Goa, Rajasthan, Kerala, Himachal, North East, etc. and start at Rs 9,990 while international destinations start at 29,990.

Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, IndiGo, has said that all the states shall offer similar rules and regulations for travellers coming in or going out to improve demand. Speaking at the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry webinar, he said, “The level of confidence is coming back to the public with increased operations. We are seeing slower growth because of the inconsistency of the state governments at various levels, including different rules and regulations in different markets, which is keeping customers away. If all state governments offer similar rules and regulations for travellers coming in or going out, I think we will see an improved situation going forward. It will take another 2-3 weeks before we start to see all the state governments getting aligned to a common working protocol, which will push the demand.”

Low cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet have started charter flight service for providing safe and private experience to flyers travelling to both domestic and international destinations. Charter services will be conducted in line with prevailing government regulations. SpiceJet claims to fly even a group of less than 6 passengers, up to a group as large as 212 passengers.

The Empowered Group 6 (EG 6) constituted by Government of India and chaired by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, held a meeting with business leaders from the aviation industry and Ministry of Civil Aviation to discuss possibilities for strengthening operations and augmenting the recovery of the aviation sector under the new normal. The meeting was also attended by Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), which covers the functioning of banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and the National Pension System; and representatives of airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, AirAsia, Vistara and Air India.

IndiGo has said that it will keep adding new aircraft to its fleet even though it can’t give any firm guidance on future capacity growth because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline, the world’s biggest customer for Airbus SE’s best-selling A320neo jets, plans to return its entire fleet of 120 older, fuel-guzzling planes to lessors in the next two years, CEO Ronojoy Dutta said in a conference call with analysts and investors after the carrier reported fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday. “Almost all or close to all” of those aircraft will be replaced by new jets, Dutta said, without giving a time frame for that to happen. “We are in active discussions with Airbus — we will take a large number. It will all depend on the revenue picture and the pricing we get and so forth, but we will take a large number,” he added. IndiGo, which had earlier expected capacity to increase 20 per cent in the year ending March 2021, refrained from giving any guidance as it declared quarterly financial results. It posted a loss of Rs 8.7 billion for the fourth quarter ended March 31, compared with a profit of 5.9 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.  

Venkataramani Sumantran has been appointed as an Independent Director on the Board of IndiGo, for a period of five years. He is currently Chairman and Managing Director of Celeris Technologies and has held this position since 2014. Sumantran has earlier served as Executive Vice-Chairman of Hinduja Automotive, UK; Executive Director of Tata Motors; and Director, Advanced Engineering in GM-Europe, among other roles.