IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers announced that it would launch flights to Langkawi and Penang during the analyst call post Q2-FY25 results. These are part of the seven international destinations which the airline had said it would launch until March 2025. It has already launched flights to Jaffna and Mauritius.
The flights to Penang will operate as below
6E 1045 MAA0215 – 0830PEN
6E 1046 PEN0930 – 1035MAA
Flights will operate daily and see the Airbus A320 being deployed. Flights begin Dec 21, 2024. IndiGo will operate to three points in Malaysia, has already added flights to Kuala Lumpur from Bengaluru and is likely to add more flights to Kuala Lumpur on the back of its codeshare with Malaysia Airlines.
This also marks a change in strategy with respect to Malaysia, where it launched flights to possibly take on AirAsia Bhd. but ended up scaling back on the other side of the pandemic and kept a solitary flight from Chennai. With Penang, Chennai will see another monopoly route, this time from IndiGo.
Penang
Penang is located near the strait of Malacca and has two parts – one being on the island and another one the mainland. The two halves of Penang are connected by Penang bridge and a second Penang bridge which is picturesque. A culturally diverse place, it is known for its food and has developed as an economic powerhouse within Malaysia.
Penang Airport is one of the top airports in Malaysia, with a lot of international connectivity which sees Thai AirAsia, Scoot, Qatar Airways along with a host of Chinese carriers fly in. It will be interesting to see how IndiGo makes Penang work. While it is known for tourism and street food, it is not exactly what a typical Indian tourist vies for. The trade ties could be one of the areas on which IndiGo may be banking.
Why Chennai – Langkawi?
Airline network planning in India has evolved over the last few years. IndiGo has had an early mover advantage of trying something new. At some point in time, AirAsia Bhd had tried the Penang – Chennai route and failed. Penang is more connected in terms of economy and not a tourist’s paradise as is Langkawi. How does IndiGo plan to make it work, will it be keenly watched?
Traditional ties between Tamil Nadu and Malaysia would have led to Chennai being the obvious choice for starting Penang. The focus being more on Origin – Destination traffic, with Penang being a hub of electronics in Malaysia and the greater Chennai area housing many industries which are related.
Network Thoughts
The addition of Penang is puzzling in some ways, since even with the Malaysia Airlines codeshare, there aren’t any destinations which can open up from Penang. However, if there had to be a flight to Penang, then it had to be from Chennai and that is what IndiGo has done.
As it starts getting more aircraft in the air, is the itch to take on AirAsia becoming a reality? Amongst the many reasons by AirAsia India failed was IndiGo’s razor sharp focus on competition. It decided to take the battle home to AirAsia with flights to Kuala Lumpur. However, the pandemic and subsequent groundings had definitely put a stop to the plan.
Special Note
You can now order Network Thoughts baggage tags !
Follow NetworkThoughts on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube.
There is now an option to pay for a coffee to thank Network Thoughts for the effort that is put into the research needed to present these posts. The site will continue to be free. If you have learnt from Network Thoughts and want to pay a fair price for the content, do reach out via the contact us section or purchase Network Thoughts baggage tags.