NEW DELHI: Cash strapped Air India has adopted a ‘fly more and fill more’ mantra as it seeks to improve its finances. The national carrier has drawn up an ambitious plan to connect more continents and lucrative sectors. A team has already landed in South Africa to study the market there. Its next stop would be the South America continent.
The logic is simple. Give passenger direct connectivity to these sectors and acquire as many of them. According to Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (Capa), close to 40 per cent of India’s international traffic reaches final destinations via an intermediate offshore airport. Almost half take transit flights from West Asian hubs.
South Africa, Brazil and Argentina are promising markets as there has been a substantial growth in economic ties. Both Brazil and South Africa are BRICS member countries too. “These markets also hold a lot of tourist potential as travel agencies are witnessing increased bookings, making Rio de Janeiro as a hub,” said an airline official disclosing Air India’s plans for the next two years.
Starting November, Air India would start a direct flight to Madrid (Spain), bringing an end to the prolonged demand for a direct flight to one of the most visited countries in the world. According to figures, some 3 million people from India travel to international destinations annually; Spain being one of them. The others are emerging cities in Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
Should a flight be introduced from Delhi to either Rio or Sau Paulo, it would be one of the longest haul flights in the world. Air India’s Delhi to San Francisco flight is among the longest now, taking roughly 17 hours.
The official also said that experimenting with long haul flights has been pretty successful and the airline would be well placed to start operations to the other far off places. The flight to San Francisco would be converted into a daily flight from October.