IndiGo, Vistara, SpiceJet take advantage of Jet Airways crisis, launch new flights
New Delhi: Cash-strapped Jet Airways’ rivals such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, Tata-group owned airlines Vistara and AirAsia India are all set to cash in on the opportunity and fill up the slots left unused by the financially-troubled carrier as it will help them to meet the additional demand and perhaps regulating airfares that have soared. It may be noted that a slot is the scheduled time of arrival or departure made available to an airline to operate regular flights.
The vacant slots are being provided for flights between April 16 and July 15, covering the peak summer travel months. That follows negotiations among airlines, the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and airports in the last week, the Economic Times reported, citing people aware of the development.
On Tuesday, the beleaguered airline had informed the bourses that it had grounded 15 aircraft because of payment issues, creating a gap of over a million seats between January and March, which has seen airfares moved higher. Also, Boeing 737 Max planes have been grounded following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Around 40 Jet Airways vacant departure slots at Mumbai airport have been allotted to IndiGo, AirAsia India, SpiceJet, and Vistara as per DGCA direction, the people cited above told the financial daily. They further mentioned that talks are on for slots in Delhi. Approximately, 80 slots lying vacant at the two airports, and the crisis-hit airline is estimated to have around 400 unused departure slots across the country.
Balu Ramachandran, head of the airline business at Cleartrip.com, told the daily: “This is a bonanza for airlines given Mumbai and Delhi are extremely constrained airports. It can also be good news for passengers. Due to the capacity cuts, year-on-year fares for April-May have increased by 15 per cent and sequentially (versus the preceding months) by 50 per cent on average. We may see a decrease in prices after the new capacity deployment by airlines.”
As per the report, budget carrier Vistara Airlines announced the launch of five new flights between Mumbai and Bengaluru and one new flight each to Hyderabad and Kolkata from Mumbai on Thursday. AirAsia has bagged eight slots. IndiGo — the country’s biggest airline by market share — has got 13 slots including three for international flights. SpiceJet has got 10 new slots.
