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InterGlobe Aviation's Indigo Airlines is planning to start low-cost flights to major European cities including London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Madrid from New Delhi next winter, reported Business Standard.
The airline has sought regulatory approval to operate flights to London, Paris, Madrid, and Hong Kong from New Delhi with Airbus A330 aircraft.
“The low-cost structure of IndiGo makes it ideal to offer a long-haul service. An airline’s cost is primarily towards fuel burn, aircraft acquisition, and labour — all of which are among the lowest for IndiGo,” a senior IndiGo executive told the paper, adding these air tickets will be priced at least 30 percent lower than the prevalent rate.
To offer low-cost operations, the airlines may go in for dense economy seating with a few premium seats (with more leg space) along with unbundled products like meal, priority boarding, and seat selection for economy passengers.
It may also look to fly to secondary airports to take advantage of low-airport charge, said the report. For instance, in London, the airline may fly to Gatwick Airport instead of Heathrow and to Orly Airport in Paris instead of Charles de Gaulle Airport to pay less airport charge.
The airline is also exploring possibilities of operating onward connectivity to North American and other European destinations in order provide a convenient network to passengers, said the report.
“Layovers boost the economics of long-haul flights by providing new points for traffic. And, centrally located hubs allow airlines to shuffle passengers between short- and long-haul routes,” the official told the paper.
The company did not respond to any queries.
According to the report, the finalisation of long-haul operations may indicate IndiGo’s diminishing interest in acquiring state-owned Air India, as it had expressed earlier.
“We remain interested in acquiring the international operations of Air India, but as we have said previously, we will explore the long-haul opportunity with or without Air India,” IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh had said last week.
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