After the closure of Jet Airways, the international segment continues to offer huge opportunity for Indian airlines, mainly private carriers, as Air India is shying away from aggressive capacity expansion.
According to a report by ICICI Securities Ltd., Air India could manage to increase its international capacity by only 1% in the first two months of FY20.
IndiGo, SpiceJet
While IndiGo could increase its international capacity share from 15% in the first two months of FY19 to 19% in the first two months of FY20, SpiceJet managed to grow it from 22% to 24% in the same time period. GoAir has been able to take its international capacity share to 10%, ICICI Securities said in a note.
“The detailed traffic print of Apr-May ’19 indicates that 70% of the incremental capacity is still being deployed by IndiGo and SpiceJet to domestic routes, and the combined (domestic plus international) capacity of Indian airlines declined 8% during the two months,” the report said. “Air India is not ramping up its international capacity post Jet grounding. Thus the international segment remains a big opportunity for Indian airlines,” it added. In the past few days, almost all airlines have announced international route expansion plans.
IndiGo has announced six new flights. Effective July 25 and August 5, IndiGo will launch daily non-stop flights connecting Delhi with Jeddah , and Mumbai with Kuwait. Additionally, to cater to the increasing demand from the sector, the airline will launch its third non-stop daily flights between Mumbai and Dubai.
William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “These new routes once again reflect our unflinching commitment towards expanding our international operations.”
Air India, which has started an international flight linking Indore and Dubai, is also planning to operate a new flight linking Kolkata and Dubai. Vistara has announced plans to start international flights linking Mumbai to Singapore and Delhi to Singapore.
Go Air has announced new flights between Delhi and Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and Muscat, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, Kannur aand Muscat, and Kannur and Abu Dhabi.
SpiceJet has also announced plans to start flights from Mumbai to Hong Kong from August 2019.
