Mumbai, June 4: IndiGo announced a further, sweeping rationalisation of its international network by temporarily suspending flights to six major destinations across Southeast and East Asia. The low-cost airline announced it would cut back on capacity just days after axing its flagship long-haul services to Western Europe.
On Thursday, IndiGo confirmed that it will temporarily suspend all operations to Langkawi, Krabi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, and Shanghai from July 1.
It will also freeze services to Siem Reap in Cambodia from July 3. The network suspension across all six routes is scheduled to continue through the second quarter of the financial year, with a tentative resumption date of October 1.
Asian routes suspended
The severe network pruning follows hot on the heels of the airline’s recent operational retrenchment in Europe, where flights to Copenhagen were axed in February and its highly publicised wide-body service to Manchester was suspended effective August 31.
While the European cuts were heavily dictated by geopolitical airspace bans over Iran and Pakistan, forcing costly detours on the leased wide-body aircraft, this secondary wave of Asian suspensions is attributed to “an incredibly challenging cost environment and traditionally softer demand.”
The country’s largest airline, according to market share, follows Air India’s rationalisation of operations, wherein the full-service carrier reduced its international operations by 27 per cent and domestic operations by 22 per cent. The Indian aviation industry is bearing the brunt of the war in West Asia, which has caused aviation turbine fuel prices to increase by more than 100 per cent.
ATF cost concerns
The optimisation comes only a day after the Union Civil Aviation Ministry announced a budgetary package worth Rs 10,000 crore to establish an ATF price stabilisation fund to shield India’s volatile aviation sector from geopolitical shocks.
Aviation experts believe that IndiGo’s move to further cut down international operations implies that the airline does not see these routes becoming sustainable even with the scheme benefits.
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However, IndiGo reassured the market that its broader global footprint remains robust, as it will maintain the vast majority of its overseas operations by preserving more than 1,800 weekly international flights. The airline confirmed it is already proactively contacting affected passengers to coordinate refunds or rebookings.
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