By Ameya Joshi
Air connectivity has been viewed in more ways than one over the years. It signifies the soft power of a country as direct air connectivity comes when there is trade and commerce. In modern times, tourism has taken the place of physical trade. No wonder then that air connectivity, passenger footfall and strong airlines have become the highlights for any country which wants to be seen as a stronger and mightier power in the region and worldwide.
September, the sixth full month since the resumption of scheduled international commercial operations from and to India, came in with some surprises. The international footfall has nearly reached the pre-COVID average even as domestic struggles to cross the 90% level with more than two years of operations.
Rise In Regional Prominence
The starting of international services came amidst the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This led to large parts of world airspace being out of bounds for European carriers as Russia and the European Union closed airspace for each other. This impacted operations for most carriers, leading to the closure of certain routes to Japan, South East Asia and China. The industry was doubly impacted by China’s zero COVID strategy leading to frequent lockdowns. In India, the airlines found a way to deploy their capacity and ability to diversify.
Data shared by global travel provider OAG Aviation for this article shows that for September, there are 295 city pairs which see international flights operating to and from India. This includes a list of places India has been trying to strategically make inroads to counter China. From places in the former Soviet Union to a sudden rise in flights from Vietnam, the post-COVID world notes India’s prominence in commercial aviation.
The Surprise Connections
Routes are attractive for airlines when there is sufficient demand on the horizon, be it for trade or tourism. While some prominent airlines would add routes to feed the global network, not all airlines have the luxury to do so. India has flights from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, with Delhi becoming a major hub for regional cooperation, trade and medical tourism. Airlines from these states connect Delhi with Tashkent, Almaty, Bishkek, Dushanbe and Ashgabat.
The Central Asian Republics are not the only ones to have such connectivity. AZAL – the national carrier of Azerbaijan, reinstated flights to Delhi recently. Until February, Ukraine International Airlines operated regular services to Delhi.
Various other points in India are connected by carriers in the Indian Ocean Region like those of Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion Islands and the Maldives.
Room For Improvement
There are 71 routes where only Indian carriers operate. Interestingly, 56 out of these 71 are monopoly routes for airlines from India.
IndiGo – the largest carrier on domestic routes, operates 10 of these monopoly routes. But the Air India group operates 15 such routes by Air India and 24 by Air India Express. SpiceJet has two such routes, while Go FIRST has five.
This has a heady mix of routes from metro and non-metros. Air India’s flights to Washington, Sydney, and Tel Aviv are monopoly routes; there are a spate of routes from Kannur, Calicut and Mangalore, which offer Indian carriers the ability to make a mark.
While Indian carriers have monopoly routes, except for Israel, there are no other countries where Indian carriers are dominant.
Of the 134 routes which do not see Indian carriers, 26 each touch Mumbai and Delhi. This is followed by Bengaluru at 16 routes. Chennai and Trivandrum follow with nine and seven, respectively.
Bangkok tops the destinations with connectivity tilted towards foreign carriers, with Thai Airways, Thai Smile, and Thai AirAsia connecting many destinations in India, while Indian carriers have not scaled up their operations yet. There are 11 points from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueng) which are monopoly routes for foreign carriers. Following closely are Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Colombo.
IndiGo was the only Indian carrier to operate to Kuala Lumpur pre-COVID. The airline has not returned with full capacity yet, while Malaysian carriers have started expanding. Similarly, Singapore Indian carriers are holding back the deployment of capacity. There are no Indian carriers to Kuala Lumpur from Amritsar, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Delhi, Hyderabad and Trichy in the first week of September. Singapore has no Indian carriers from Vizag, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Coimbatore, Kochi, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Trivandrum. The case of Colombo, a very popular tourist destination in the past, is unique as the financial crisis in Sri Lanka has made the local carrier take a fuel stop at Indian cities!
The much popular Middle East (ME) also has many routes that Indian carriers have not yet started flying to, but ME airlines operate exclusively. These include flights to Doha from Kolkata, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Amritsar and those to Sharjah from Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Goa, Jaipur, Nagpur and Ahmedabad.
There are 19 countries where foreign carriers operate to India, but none of the Indian carriers operate. In terms of connectivity, the largest is Iraq, where Iraqi carriers operate to Mumbai and Ahmedabad from Baghdad and Najaf, while Delhi is connected with Baghdad. The same is the story with neighbouring Iran. This is followed by Ethiopia, where Ethiopian Airlines operates to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. Indian carriers are absent from the Netherlands as well as to other European destinations like Finland, Poland and Switzerland.
Former USSR countries, including Russia, have flights to Delhi. There is direct connectivity from Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent, Dushanbe and Baku, but beyond some charters during the pandemic, airlines from India have not dared to venture there yet.
In the African continent, flights to Dar es Salaam and Cairo are operated by local carriers. The Indian Ocean Region likewise sees connectivity to Mauritius, Seychelles and Reunion Island by their local carriers.
Flights to Bhutan have been off the radar for Indian carriers and rightly so for the special operational needs. Air India – the only Indian carrier to Kabul — has also not returned there, while the Afghani carrier has started operations to Delhi.
International is not a magic wand. At one point in time, Jet Airways had half its revenue coming in from international operations, yet it met its fate. As Air India looks to strengthen its wide-body offering and order more aircraft and IndiGo explores newer shores with the A321XLR being introduced in 2024 -2025, the opportunity to expand is as vast as one can imagine.
Ameya Joshi runs the aviation analysis website Network Thoughts
