Lack of infra takes flights from Chennai
tnn | Oct 27, 2017, 05:56 IST
CHENNAI: Chennai airport seems to be losing out on the regional boom as airlines are looking at Bengaluru and Hyderabad as hubs to position their flights to connect tier II and tier III cities.
IndiGo airlines has launched a large-scale expansion of regional routes but more than 30 flights of IndiGo connecting Rajahmundry and Tirupati to metros and tier II cities will be routed through Bengaluru, while only nine flights will be routed via Chennai hinting that infrastructure limitations are preventing airlines from routing flights via Chennai.
The flights will start in January.
IndiGo on Thursday announced expansion of its regional network by adding 63 new services to connect Tirupati and Rajahmundry on its existing network of Airbus 320s and ATRs.
The airline will connect Tirupati and Rajahmundry to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Dubai, Muscat, Singapore and other cities via Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mangalore. Bookings have begun for the flights which will start on January 9 and January 16.
The flights that will be routed via Chennai are: Port Blair-Rajahmundry, Kolkata-Rajahmundry, Rajahmundry-Singapore, Rajahmundry-Muscat.
Some of the new routes include Chennai-Rajahmundry via Hyderabad, Rajahmundry-Chennai via Hyderabad, Chennai-Tirupati via Bengaluru, Tirupati-Chennai via Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram -Tirupati via Bengaluru, Kochi -Rajahmundry via Bengaluru and others.
Passengers will have to change flights at the hub airports like Bengaluru and Chennai. This means that the airline has more options out of Bengaluru and Hyderabad than in Chennai. This is reflected in the schedule announced by IndiGo.
A senior official of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that there were limitations in parking bays and slots for airlines in Chennai airport because of constraints like parking space, taxiways, availability of runways and others.
An airline official said that Chennai airport had problems in providing slots for flights during peak hours. "The demand for seats is high during peak hours because people want to travel out of the city early morning. However, it will lead to congestion if more flights are allowed in peak hours because parking bays are available only near second runway. But it will take time to bring the aircraft by crossing the main runway to reach the terminals to board passengers," he added.
tnn | Oct 27, 2017, 05:56 IST
CHENNAI: Chennai airport seems to be losing out on the regional boom as airlines are looking at Bengaluru and Hyderabad as hubs to position their flights to connect tier II and tier III cities.
IndiGo airlines has launched a large-scale expansion of regional routes but more than 30 flights of IndiGo connecting Rajahmundry and Tirupati to metros and tier II cities will be routed through Bengaluru, while only nine flights will be routed via Chennai hinting that infrastructure limitations are preventing airlines from routing flights via Chennai.
The flights will start in January.
IndiGo on Thursday announced expansion of its regional network by adding 63 new services to connect Tirupati and Rajahmundry on its existing network of Airbus 320s and ATRs.
The airline will connect Tirupati and Rajahmundry to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Dubai, Muscat, Singapore and other cities via Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mangalore. Bookings have begun for the flights which will start on January 9 and January 16.
The flights that will be routed via Chennai are: Port Blair-Rajahmundry, Kolkata-Rajahmundry, Rajahmundry-Singapore, Rajahmundry-Muscat.
Some of the new routes include Chennai-Rajahmundry via Hyderabad, Rajahmundry-Chennai via Hyderabad, Chennai-Tirupati via Bengaluru, Tirupati-Chennai via Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram -Tirupati via Bengaluru, Kochi -Rajahmundry via Bengaluru and others.
Passengers will have to change flights at the hub airports like Bengaluru and Chennai. This means that the airline has more options out of Bengaluru and Hyderabad than in Chennai. This is reflected in the schedule announced by IndiGo.
A senior official of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that there were limitations in parking bays and slots for airlines in Chennai airport because of constraints like parking space, taxiways, availability of runways and others.
An airline official said that Chennai airport had problems in providing slots for flights during peak hours. "The demand for seats is high during peak hours because people want to travel out of the city early morning. However, it will lead to congestion if more flights are allowed in peak hours because parking bays are available only near second runway. But it will take time to bring the aircraft by crossing the main runway to reach the terminals to board passengers," he added.
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