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Are the
Indian skies getting crowded? |
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A hot cuppa, a room full of regular Indian news
watchers and their pet time-pass: adda in Bengal
and debates elsewhere in the world; and, the topic
that is hot on everybody's lips- are the Indian
skies getting crowded?
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| Considering the
facts and figures for the most pertinent question,
flagging our fledgling LCA industry: are the Indian
skies getting crowded? |
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With rock bottom airfares and LCCs (low cost
carriers) flying sky high, wherever the naked
eye may see till, the fate of the Indian skies
seems imminently in danger of getting crowded
at first glance; especially from the common man's
point of view that is quite near getting cluttered
with the riot of name tags on budget airlines
competing for greater customer records with each
season.
How far can these budget airlines continue to
savor the benefits of the open Indian skies without
the authorities crying for a breath of fresh air
due to overcrowding by LCC's? It remains to be
seen. If figures about the number of airlines
headed to Indian shores…er, skies, are any
judge of this highly heated debate, you well may
run out of fingers to count on: there are equal
number of foreign players as there are domestic
takers for Indian skies. Among the International
players looking to head India-ward, there is Continental,
Lufthansa, Emirates and Mahan.
Not to be left out of a piece of the pie (or
rather, sky) even our very own desi version of
budget carrier, Air India, has announced plans
of buying 68 Boeing aircraft worth $7.9 billion
to stay in the running. The strategy for foreign
budget or even exclusive air carriers has been
to fly more frequently and also include the smaller
cities in their touchdown points to accommodate
for the rise in income levels of citizens there
and also with raised affordability of discounted
flights, advertising and marketing offers for
safe, faster, more feasible air travel options,
there are definitely more takers than ever before
in the back of beyond as well.
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| Flying facts for
foreign carriers sailing Indian skies: are the Indian
skies getting crowded? You see for yourself-not
heavenwards, but down here: read on! |
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| For
those that like to sip and dip into facts at the
same time, here are the stats: Air France has introduced
35 flights a week from Paris to India, Virgin Atlantic
is cheerfully flying the Bombay-London route daily
and not content with regularity, they have also
raised their number of flights from four to seven;
not to be outdone, Iranian Airline, Mahan Air have
added Cochin to their route network from Tehran
after scheduling flights to Delhi. If that wasn't
enough proof, there is Finnair, all set to launch
non-stop flights from Helsinki-Delhi; Qantas already
flies three times a week from Sydney to Bombay and
our very own Air Sahara has countered all of that
by taking its launch of Delhi-London flight up to
four times a week! So there!
Domestically speaking of crowding Indian skies,
there is a continuous influx of desi players has
affected the crowding of Indian skies: Air India
has added direct flights from Pune to Dubai and
Pune has become an international airport; so have
Nagpur and Jaipur. Indian Airlines is Singapore
bound now and other no-frills carriers are multiplying
too. Air Deccan, (rupee 1 fares), Kingfisher Airlines
(beer-y well, hic!), SpiceJet, (previously ModiLuft),
Go Air, Magic Air are some names already making
waves in the skies.
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| Waiting in the sidelines:
more potential for crowding up Indian skies |
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| Others
awaiting no-objection certificates from the civil
aviation ministry and those planning on joining
the party above the clouds, include Yamuna Airlines,
Visa and Air One, Inter Globe, Paramount, Indus
Air and Skylark. Still wondering are the Indian
skies getting crowded??? |
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