IndiGo's low-cost flights to Singapore being rejigged

New Delhi: Tough competition from full service carriers, specially Jet Airways, and fliers’ preference for a meal on a five-and-a-half hour flight are two of the main reasons why IndiGo Airlines was compelled to withdraw its daily services to Singapore from Mumbai and Delhi. The airline will now fly to Singapore from Chennai and Hyderabad instead.

IndiGo was the only low-cost carrier to launch a five-and-a-half-hour medium haul international flight on the Singapore route. The other direct flights are from full service carriers Air India, Jet Airways and Singapore Airlines. One-stop flights are being offered by Thai Airways (via Bangkok), Sri Lankan (via Colombo) and Malaysian Airlines via Kuala Lumpur.

A top official of a prominent travel website told Firstpost that IndiGo “kept its cards so close to its chest that even we were informed about the withdrawal of the Singapore service from Delhi and Mumbai only yesterday. On such medium haul flights consumers did not seem to mind paying Rs 5,000-6,000 extra but get meals and a comfortable journey”.

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The flights will be withdrawn from the next fiscal, according to industry sources.

[caption id=“attachment_577644” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  IndiGo is the single largest airline in the domestic market and the only airline to remain profitable despite a bloodbath in the Indian skies in the last many months. Reuters[/caption]

An IndiGo spokesperson had replied to a Firstpost query earlier saying “IndiGo is not shutting down Bangkok or Singapore operations. We will soon launch a Chennai-Singapore route followed by Hyderabad-Singapore. IndiGo has recently increased its frequency on the Delhi-Bangkok route to double daily and launched Kolkata-Bangkok route”.

An official at another competing full service carrier pointed out that IndiGo could look at combining flights so that it offers Delhi fliers a connection to Singapore via Chennai or Hyderabad. He also said that Jet was already offering very competitive fares on this route, which was hurting IndiGo’s load factors.

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Subhash Goyal of Stic Travels said it is wise of IndiGo to now launch Singapore flights from Chennai and Hyderabad since the flight time from these cities would be lesser but fares would not be significantly lesser. This would mean cost of operation would be lower when yields would probably be higher.

Goyal also echoed industry sentiments when he said that fliers prefer to be more comfortable on long flights and are willing to shell out a bit more to get a hot meal and other comforts on board. “Each airline nowadays follows a yield management system where the first 10 seats are sold for the cheapest fare and then it rises as seats get filled up. There were times when an IndiGo ticket would cost more than a Jet ticket just as there were times when Jet cost more. Ultimately passengers decide what they want and if they are willing to pay for it. Sometimes, the fare difference between Jet and IndiGo was only Rs 1,000-2,000 for a return trip”.

A story in Business Standard earlier this week cited high fuel costs and intense competition behind IndiGo’s decision to withdraw the Singapore flights from Delhi and Mumbai. It also said the airline has stopped accepting web bookings on Singapore flights from Mumbai and Delhi beyond March. Also, no flights are available on the Mumbai-Bangkok route from March.

The airline made its global foray in September 2011, connecting Delhi with Dubai. Gradually, it added flights to Dubai, Bangkok, Muscat (Oman) and Singapore from Mumbai and Dubai.

IndiGo is the single largest airline in the domestic market and the only airline to remain profitable despite a bloodbath in the Indian skies in the last many months. So perhaps the decision to rejig flights will augur well for the airline’s bottomline even as it pleases competition.