3,200 flights! India ready to restart international flights

Two years of lockdown! That’s what the airline industry was forced to endure in India due to the restrictions derived from the Covid-19 pandemic. And after those strenuous 24 months, finally the Airlines in India will be allowed to return to the skies, full force.

After 24 months, scheduled international travel is set to resume today,Monday March 28th and airlines can’t seem to wait to ramp up their schedule again. The main markets that the airline industry in India is planning to boost is the Middle East and East Asia mainly. These are traditionally strong markets in the region.

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The ban on international flights was lifted yesterday, March 27th officially. It was initially imposed on 19th March 2020, so a bit over two years ago, time during which the airlines were forced to work under “travel bubbles”. These bubbles allowed only flights to select destinations within the country and international destinations that India had signed reciprocal agreements with. The bubbles created in turn an environment of high prices due to the lack of options both in carriers and frequencies.

So what is it about to happen in India now that the ban is lifted? To have a better dimension let’s look at some numbers from the biggest players in the region. First we have IndiGo, who will start with 505 weekly new flights from March 27th to October 29th in over a dozen countries. Air India places itself in second with 360 weekly flights, with its low cost subsidiary Al Express with 340 flights. Lastly we have SpiceJet with130 new frequencies, Go First with 74 and Vistara with 56. All and all, over 3,200 new weekly flights to and from India.

And as the airlines ready themselves to restart their international operations, the passengers are responding to the offer with an apparent huge demand for international flights this summer. After two years of restrictions, passengers in India are ready to hop on the plane and go places once more. This high expectations are hoping to reach pre-pandemic levels by the end of the travel season.