International airlines have plans to almost double flights in the next few months
PRAVASISAMWAD.COM
The government’s green signal to start international commercial flights from March 27 could have a salutary effect: airfares could go down by up to 40 per cent with carriers bringing in more capacity.
While Lufthansa and group carrier Swiss have planned to almost double flights in the next few months, Singapore Airlines could increase flights by 17 per cent, according to sources in the airlines quoted by ET. Meanwhile, IndiGo has chalked out plans to restart nearly 100 global flights in the coming months.
Presently, airlines can operate a limited number of overseas flights under bubble arrangements with certain countries. Limited capacity has pushed airfares up to 100 per cent higher, compared to before the pandemic, on some routes such as India-US. Aloke Bajpai, Group Chief Executive of travel portal Ixigo was quoted saying that “suspension of regular international flights had created a demand-supply imbalance, making international travel expensive for certain routes under the bubble agreements. With capacity coming back and with an increase in connectivity and more routes, we can expect international fares returning to pre-Covid levels,” he said.
The fall in international airfares will help cushion the rise in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. ATF prices have been increased five times this year, on top of a 100 per cent increase last year. “Had bubble flights continued, with US carriers cutting flights including to India, prices would have soared further than their current high levels,” according to Rajesh Magow, Group Chief Executive, Makemytrip. He said that the decision to allow regular international flights and a resultant increase in capacity, prices will stabilise. But he also said that prices would go up again if fuel prices continued their upward trajectory and there was no resolution to the Ukraine crisis.
Singapore Airlines’ General Manager India, Sy Yen Chen said: “We are optimistic that this move, coupled with the expansion of Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lanes across India, will offer better and more convenient options for Indian customers, for whom Singapore is a key destination and transit hub for international travel.” He also said that “in anticipation of the increased demand for air travel, we are not only progressively increasing our frequency from across India but will also be resuming our A380 services from Mumbai this month and from Delhi in the near future”.
Singapore Airlines currently operates 52 weekly flights from eight cities across India. From March 21, it plans to ramp up to 61 weekly flights, with increased frequencies from Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi and Mumbai. Scoot, the airline’s low-cost subsidiary, operates 22 times weekly from five cities in India. Lufthansa and Swiss, which have 22 weekly flights now, will increase the count to 42 by October this year, said a spokesperson.
Vistara too was planning to increase international flights.
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