Cheap Airline Tickets for Non-Metro Routes of India

The number of fliers is growing day by day as per International Aviation Transport Association (IATA). An addition of over 900 million passengers has been calculated in tenure of five years, starting from 2012. Most of them will be domestic fliers; hence airlines are adding capacity on small cities of the home country. India is one among them and is witnessing a fast pace in the aviation sector. This has attracted many new players in the market, including global players. For instance, AirAsia – a Malaysia-based carrier – recently started operating in the Indian market, and provides ultra cheap airline tickets to a number of destinations lying in the southern part of the country. It has recently started operations in non-metro cities such as Jaipur. Other full-fledged as well as low-cost carriers (LCCs) have also announced flights on such routes.

As per several researches and analysis, it has been found that demand of flights connecting small cities will rise in the coming months, and the signs can clearly be seen in the current scenario. Patna Airport is one of the busiest airports of the country, connecting Bihar with other states of the country. Millions of fliers board flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata as well as international destinations from terminals of the airport. Hence, leading carriers, especially LCCs, have launched new services to this city in the past few months. The state government has decided to extend the capacity of the terminal or may soon pass bills to build a new one because of the traffic.

Apart from this, GoAir recently made an announcement to commence services from and to Biju Patnaik Airport of Bhubaneswar after doing a thorough study. Air India and IndiGo provided their services to this city, but researches showed that the number of travellers is quite high; hence operation on this route can prove to be lucrative. The officials of the airline also expect an increase in the GoAir ticket booking after initiation of these scheduled flights. These reports emphasise on higher disposal income and rapid urbanisation as some of the important reasons, which have led to the boom in the industry. The number of passengers is expected to grow by 75 per cent, numerically over 217 million, in the next six years.

Analysts from the Centre for Aviation claim that much of the above-mentioned growth will come from smaller cities. As per records, a hike of 17 per cent has been recorded at these places since the year 2009. It is more than twice the growth recorded on popular metro routes. The government of the country is supportive and has recently announced construction of around 50 airports all across the nation to connect small towns. President of IndiGo, in agreement to all these statistics, said that opportunity is changing, and flights destined to these locations are fuller when compared to those operated on trunk routes. Zav Airways and Air Costa are planning to launch flights to the cities falling in the north-eastern and southern part of the nation by 2015, respectively.

Cheap Flights and Sales Contribute in GoAir Success

GoAir is one of the leading airlines of India, based in Mumbai and operated by the Wadia Group. With more than 100 daily flights and around 19 aircraft, it serves over 20 destinations all across the country. The carrier placed an order for over 70 Airbus A320 neo models, which are expected to be delivered in 2015. As per recent reports, this budget airline may soon add international destinations in its service list as it is planning to seek permission of respective authorities regarding overseas flying. The performance graph of GoAir in the previous quarter shows an upward movement in all respects, including the number of flights, routes and revenue.

This low-cost carrier (LCC) is not listed and hence, has to present its annual books in the public in order to give a true picture of the financial status to prospective investors. The company has revealed that so far it made a profit of INR 50 crores and the aim to gain more than 100 crores by the end of this fiscal year. In the last fiscal year, the revenue of this company was close to making a century, and actually crossed INR 100 in the 2013. Giorgio De Roni, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), revealed the fact that cheap GoAir flight tickets and the cargo business contributed significantly in this huge figure.

The CEO said that their aim is to increase revenue over the years as no dramatic change in fuel price has been observed. It is expected that the airline may cross the 100-crore benchmark in this fiscal year. Other airlines are expanding in terms of flights and fleet size, but he said that they want to remain small but profitable. Performance of the carrier is worth praising in the backdrop of losses that Indian aviation industry is facing.

Direct GoAir Flight between Kolkata and Nagpur

In recent years, emergence of low-cost carriers (LCCs) has made a drastic impact on the prices of flight ticket, making it way cheaper than it was a few decades back. One of such carriers is GoAir – an aviation foray of the Wadia Group. This leading domestic airline entered in the Indian aviation industry in 2005, with Airbus A320 aircraft, and now serves more than 20 cities on a daily basis. According to reports, the fleet size of more than 15 aircraft of this carrier is expected to increase significantly, in the coming months. It owns more than 8.5 per cent market share in the domestic market, by providing frequent flights to different cities of the country. Indira Gandhi International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport are hub of this carrier. Recently, it introduced a direct flight to Nagpur from Kolkata.

Increasing number of fliers has induced GoAir to operate the second daily non-stop flight connecting these two destinations. This is great news for business travellers and others, who need to come back to Kolkata on the same evening. It stops at Nagpur, giving travellers an option to de-board there, and then it goes directly to Mumbai. It reaches Mumbai at 10 am, when most offices start their business for the day. To optimise the time utility, travellers can go in the evening by boarding GoAir flight, which leaves at 6:55 pm from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

GoAir CEO expressed his happiness on introduction of this new route and revealed the fact that the City of Joy has become its fourth key market, with around nine lakhs seats per year. It recently launched a new service on the Kolkata to Patna route and is looking forward to enhance its presence in the industry. This airline has more than 45 departures per week from Kolkata, including non-stop flights.