Starting June 02, 2024; Air India launched a new flight between Delhi and Coimbatore, a route which has traditionally served as a single flight number via Chennai, operating Delhi – Chennai – Coimbatore (AI429) and Coimbatore – Chennai – Delhi (AI 539). It also remained the only non IndiGo flight between Chennai and Coimbatore, with the market leader operating seven daily between Chennai – the state capital and Coimbatore – the commercial and trade centre of the state.
The new flight will operate six times a week (except Saturday) at below timings
AI547 DEL1500 – 1800CJB
AI548 CJB1845 – 2150DEL
The airline is deploying a dual class A319 on this route, with the first flight being operated by VT-SCF.
Air India joins IndiGo and Vistara on this route in offering non-stop services. IndiGo was the pioneer on this route and was its first longer route which it offered, back in 2009 or 2010 if my memory serves right. Vistara launched flights to Coimbatore two years ago. The question that gets raised is why the sudden non-stop to Coimbatore? Especially this comes at a time when Vistara is set to merge with Air India within months
Network Thoughts
The answer to this lies in the timings of the flights. Let’s look at the arrival in Delhi from Coimbatore. With a 2150 arrival, this helps connections to Newark (thrice a week), San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, Toronto and Chicago(Six times a week), and Washington (Four times a week). The connection time ranges from three to five hours.
On the inbound, the departure at 1500 means the same destinations are connected back to Coimbatore. Additionally, the European bank – from Frankfurt, London, Paris – which have daily or more than daily flights along with Vienna, Copenhagen, Milan, Birmingham also connect to Coimbatore.
Why the sudden focus on Coimbatore then? It is one the top 20 urban conglomerates in India, second largest city in Tamil Nadu. Apart from a large population which has migrated out of India, to the United States. Additionally, Coimbatore has come up as an industrial and commercial city, along with a healthcare and education hub. The last two have limited significance as a spoke in Air India’s network, but the first two have. Coimbatore serves as the go-to airport for neighbouring districts in Kerala along with the Textile hub of Tirupur.
The question that then comes up is, if it was such a convincing case all along – why wasnt there a flight yet? Without access to numbers, this is a difficult question to answer. Connections and connecting passengers build up over time and until there is one, there won’t be data. What starts as a trickle, becomes a steady flow until it becomes a large number. There remains a steady growth in the Delhi – Coimbatore market with the last frequency addition being in 2022. With Air India’s entry, the capacity will go up roughly 20% – something which the market can absorb.
Tail Note
There never is a spoke too many. In the past we have seen Air India increase frequency to Phuket – thus offering two-way connectivity to European destinations. What could happen in this case?
One possibility is that the Vistara flight is retimed when there is more cooperation between the two and eventual merger. An early morning departure from Delhi (Subject to slots) would mean that the return flight would arrive in Delhi by mid-day, and thus connect to the European bank. This would mean two-way connectivity to Europe.
There is another possibility, one which again involves Vistara. Currently Vistara operates flights to London, Frankfurt and Paris – which nearly go hand in hand with Air India from Delhi. Will the eventual merger see the widebody departures of Vistara open up the second bank from Delhi, that of midnight – competing against the likes of Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France? In that case, the current Air India flight timings gel well.
When it comes to being a network carrier, there are multiple ways of looking at a flight. A standalone performance may not do full justice, but how much does it contribute to the network. If it helps add yields and passengers to flights to North America, it’s a good flight. If it helps take away passengers flying other airlines and contributes to revenue, it’s a good flight. However, there will be a point in future – where the question will be on profitability, either at flight level or network level. That day might be far, but every airline aspires to reach there at the earliest.
Air India’s cost structure may not be public, but it will be significantly higher than IndiGo. Will IndiGo add a flight between Delhi and Coimbatore? It did not when Vistara entered the market, when it remained the capacity and frequency leader. With Air India’s addition, IndiGo gets pushed to being 50% frequency holder. Does it have the slots, planes and willingness to fight on every route? And if they do, should one assume that Air India has already planned for it? We will know in months to come.
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