- Airline operates to Jagdalpur as a charter service for paramilitary personnel
- This will be 55th domestic destination from Hyderabad for IndiGo
IndiGo – the country’s largest carrier has started accepting bookings for flights to Jagdalpur (IATA: JGB) in the central Indian state of Chattisgarh. The airline has now opened flights for sale connecting Jagdalpur to Hyderabad and Raipur effective 31st March 2024. The flight timings are as below
6E7104 HYD1050 – 1230JGB Daily
6E7105 JGB1250 – 1425HYD 367
6E7105 JGB1530 – 1705HYD 1245
6E7092 JGB1250 – 1350RPR 1245
6E7095 RPR1410 – 1510JGB 1245
All flights will be operated by ATR 72-600 aircraft.
The last destination IndiGo launched was Ayodhya, where it started regular scheduled commercial flights early this year. If news reports are to be believed, more destinations are in the pipeline and could be announced leading up to the summer schedule which begins on March 31 this year. This comes amidst the airline withdrawing from Khajuraho and not opening sale of its flights to Jaisalmer in the summer schedule. While the airline has managed capacity based on season to its seasonal destinations like Srinagar, Leh or Port Blair, this is the first time that the airline has withdrawn flights for a season.
The airline is going through turbulent times as over 70 aircraft are grounded due to the powder metal issue of Pratt & Whitney. While this may be a new route for the airline, it has been operating to Jagdalpur from Delhi via Raipur for a while after bidding and winning for the service to ferry paramilitary personnel who are deployed in Central India to fight the Naxal menace.
Stronger Hyderabad, connected Jagdalpur
With the launch of flights to Jagdalpur, this will be the 55th domestic destination for IndiGo from Hyderabad. IndiGo serves 58 domestic destinations from Bengaluru and 38 from Chennai, the other two southern metro cities.
Jagdalpur is a politically important city in Chattisgarh and significantly far from the capital Raipur, with a road distance of over six hours – making it an important connection from an administration perspective. The region is rich in minerals and has a steel plant nearby. The region is full of waterfalls and places of religious interest. The economy largely remains agrarian and the flights could mean better time to market for the produce.
Network Thoughts
Alliance Air – the then subsidiary of Air India and currently the only state owned airline in India, started flights to Jagdalpur in September 2020, the peak of COVID. The route was awarded to the airline as part of RCS-UDAN round 3.0. The exclusivity which comes with the RCS route has since ended, paving the way for competition to join the route and also allowing Alliance Air to vacate, if needed. Alliance Air is currently operating six times a week to Jagdalpur from Hyderabad, and twice a week from Raipur. Going by the numbers released by Airports Authority of India, the airport has been recording high load factors. While Alliance Air continues to sell flights for summer, I won’t be surprised if they pull out from the route to redeploy the capacity on another RCS route.
Read: The airports in India, where IndiGo does NOT operate
It needs to be seen if IndiGo is getting any state subsidy to operate the route. Either ways, the airline’s lower unit cost will help get traction from passengers and could potentially attract more passengers to places beyond Hyderabad and Raipur, which Alliance Air could not achieve.
If it manages to get a good yield or above average yield to Jagdalpur as compared to its overall network, it helps keep routes like these away from the resurgent Air India Express and focus on building a deeper network.
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