IndiGo will operate thrice weekly flights to Amsterdam and Manchester from July widening it’s European footprint.
While Manchester is the largest unserved European destination from India, Amsterdam is a hub for IndiGo’s partner airline KLM.
The new flights will help IndiGo to cater to point-to-point traffic and build flight connections over its hub airports in India enabling passenger flow between Europe and South East Asia. Additionally it could also deepen it’s connections with KLM to connect more destinations in Europe or the US.
IndiGo is yet to announce a schedule and hasn’t disclosed origin airport in India for the new flights.
The flights will be operated with Boeing 787 aircraft which IndiGo is wet leasing from Norwegian carrier Norse Atlantic.
While the first of the aircraft is already been inducted into operations on Delhi- Bangkok route, three more planes will join in second half of the year.
Indian diaspora
“India has strong ties both with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands for business and tourism; and there is a large Indian diaspora that live in these countries. These new flights will benefit both our existing and potential customers who fly on these routes. These new IndiGo long-haul routes are steps towards inching closer to realising our shared vision to build India into a global aviation hub,” the airline’s CEO Pieter Elbers said in a statement.
Air India, Emirates and Etihad Airways have the largest share of traffic between India and Europe. London, Paris, Frankfurt, Istanbul and Amsterdam are top five destinations for travel to/from India
According to an industry source, IndiGo has a market share of around 6 per cent on European routes. It operates flights to Baku (Azerbaijan), Istanbul (Turkey) and Tbilisi (Georgia). IndiGo also has a code share partnership with Turkish Airlines allowing it to sell tickets to over 30 destinations in Europe