Among the many things that have been replaced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in Indian aviation is the addition of staggered destinations that Indian carriers have to bring back to the stranded Indians. These destinations come with Moscow, Bishkek, Lebanon and Manila.
Indian carriers also traveled to Doha, Dubai, Male and Colombo, where they had scheduled advertising flights before the pandemic, to bring back the Indians even when the Indian government, like many others around the world, banned flights.
Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, no Indians operated to and from Africa and CIS countries.
However, the new general means that in the face of the pandemic, IndiGo operated more than 800 charter flights to repatriate approximately 1,50,000 passengers in less than 3 months. Kuwait, to South Asian countries such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, the Hong Kong SAR in China and the Philippines, as well as flying to Russia and Uzbekistan.
In early June, SpiceJet announced that it had made 175 charter flights, 111 to the United Arab Emirates, to bring back 20,000 Indians.
Most of these destinations were not part of those airlines’ flight schedules before the pandemic, operating flights to those destinations was a smart way for money-saving airlines to earn cash when scheduled flights were prohibited.
But the key question now is how many of these cities will personal sector airlines launch scheduled flights when foreign flights are resumed in general?
Nripendra Singh, Chief Industry, Aerospace, Defense
Singh adds: “I guess it’s almost (that airlines turn those routes into part of their normal operations) because it all comes down to air traffic. The operation of bubble flights to certain destinations is a unique phenomenon and is unlikely to become a normal phenomenon. »
Among the reasons given in this regard is the lack of movement of airlines from Africa and the GCC countries.
“A mismanagement initiated through an airline can have a significant negative effect on its balance sheet,” Singh says, “because an airline will have to operate for at least six months before it ceases operations. “
However, others are not so adamant in rejecting these new destinations. In a recent interview with BusinessLine, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, IndiGo’s chief operating officer, wants to take a closer look at the launch of new roads.
“There are Indians all over the world. We’ve won applications to bring in Indian academics from Moscow. Many countries in Central Asia and the Philippines also had many stranded Indians. For planned operations, you have to look conscientiously because there has to be a But it has been a smart delight with new destinations and you start anything and you realize that there is an uninterrupted demand. If we do that, we will open naturally, ” said Wolfgang.
He added that the opening of new flights would result in the re-establishment of the airline’s network in Western and Southeast Asia when the foreigner in general begins.
Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and CEO of Yatra. com, agrees with Wolfgang that airlines are constantly assessing the feasibility of operating scheduled flights on various routes. “As we continue to operate in the new normal, there are opportunities that some of the destinations/shops can expand from a tourist perspective,” he says, adding, “As Toa travelers become more confident on air travel, we can expect greater customer demand for unconventional destinations as they continue to explore less frequented and non-commercial places to avoid risks. »
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