The long and short of flights this winter in India

An analysis done exclusively by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, for Moneycontrol, throws up some interesting data about the longest and shortest flights crisscrossing the country.

As Indian aviation’s winter schedule begins on Sunday, October 29, 2023, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved 23,732 weekly departures, which are 3.6 % more than the ongoing summer schedule, and 8.1 % more than last year’s winter schedule, in spite of the sector being one airline short as Go FIRST stopped operations in May.

An analysis done exclusively by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, for Moneycontrol, throws up some interesting data about the longest and shortest flights crisscrossing the country.

The longest and shortest route in India

The only government-run airline in India, Alliance Air, will operate an ATR 72-600 on the shortest route in the country, that between Guwahati and Silchar. The airline has a block time of 40 minutes for a route that is a mere 60 kilometres long. Block time is the total time a flight takes, from pushing back from the departure gates to arriving at the destination gate (added) what’s alliance’s longest route.

Air India’s (AI) thrice-a-week service from Delhi to Port Blair is the longest flight in India. The airline’s  Airbus A320neo takes 3 hours and 40 minutes to fly the 2,483 km between the two cities.

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Airline-wise breakdown

AI’s shortest route is that between Mumbai and Pune. The six-times-a-week flight has a block time of 55 minutes for a distance of 126 kilometres. For Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture which is set to merge with AI, the longest route is between Delhi and Trivandrum, where the airline deploys its A320neo. The route sees a distance of 2,224 km covered in three hours and 20 minutes. The shortest route for the airline is between Srinagar and Jammu — 145 kilometres. This is also the shortest route for SpiceJet, which, interestingly, deploys its Boeing here, and not the regional turboprop Q400 fleet.

Spicejet’s shortest Q400 route is Delhi-Jaipur, a distance of 232 kms. SpiceJet’s longest domestic route is the 2,074-km Mumbai-Guwahati run, on which it deploys its Boeing fleet. The 1,508 km-long Delhi-Shillong route is the longest Q400 run for SpiceJet, and also the longest turboprop route in the country.

For Tata’s low-cost Air India Express, the shortest route is between Kannur and Mangalore (135 kms), while Jaipur to Bengaluru is its longest route (1,521 kms) operated by its newly inducted B737 MAX 8. For AirAsia India, which is in the process of merging with Air India Express, the 2,041 km-long Kochi to Delhi run is its longest, while at 232 kms, its shortest route is Delhi to Jaipur, operated by the A320.

For the country’s largest carrier, IndiGo, the 2,287 km-long Mumbai-Port Blair route is its longest flight, where it uses the A320neo. On its ATR fleet, the longest route is the Shirdi-Vijayawada run (764 kms), while the shortest route is the 134 kms between Silchar and Shillong. On its Airbus A320neo routes, the shortest is the Srinagar-Jammu sector (145 kms).

For Akasa Air, Mumbai-Guwahati is the longest route (2,074 kms), while its shortest route is the 248 km between Guwahati and Agartala. The airline deploys the Boeing B737 MAX 8-200 in this sector, the only one in its fleet right now, while the others are serviced by the B737 MAX8.

India has two regional carriers, Star Air, which has a network largely in the west and south, and flybig which is confined to the east, north east, and parts of north India. For flybig, the Guwahati-Patna sector is the longest (652 kms), while its shortest is Guwahati to Rupasi (167 kms), operated by the ATR 72. For Star Air, the shortest route is the recently announced Shivamogga-North Goa (281 km) and the longest is between Bengaluru and Jamnagar (1310 kms), operated by the E175.

Alliance Air, which runs the shortest route in the country, has its longest route between Delhi and Bilaspur at 887 kms, operated by the ATR 72-600.

Finally

Ever wondered about the longest international run from India? It is Air India’s flight to San Francisco from Bengaluru, which is 13,987 kms of non-stop flying , which is operated by the B777-200LR. The shortest is the flight from Paro to Bagdogra, operated by Royal Bhutan Airlines, which operates the Airbus A319.