IndiGo opens sale for flights to Dubai from Pune – NetworkThoughts
IndiGo – the country’s largest carrier has opened reservations for flights to Dubai from Pune. This comes after an announcement on social media by Hon. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Sh. Muralidhar Mohol, also the Member of Parliament from Pune. The airline has already opened flights to Bangkok, which is operational from Nov 22, 2024. The flight to Dubai will be operational from the next day.
IndiGo, which operates over 2000 flights a day, does not have a single international flight from Pune. It currently operates international services from 19 Indian destinations to 35 international destinations. Pune will be the 20th Indian city from where it will offer International services. IndiGo currently has 56% of all departures from Pune and 61% of all seats available.
The two services will have limited feeder opportunities as well but the airport infrastructure does not support feeder traffic in the true sense. Pune Airport, soon to be renamed Jagat Guru Sant Tukaram Maharaj Airport, is a civilian enclave at a defence airfield handling frontline Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft.
A new airport for Pune has been in the pipeline for decades and after repeated changes in site and approvals has not had any breakthrough.
Pune to Dubai
IndiGo will operate daily services to Dubai from Pune. The flight (6E1483) would depart Pune at 0015 hours and reach Dubai at 0215 hours. The return flight leaves Dubai at 1740 hours and reaches Pune at 2210 hours, operating as 6E1484. Due to the rotation, the Dubai – Pune flight begins on Nov 22, while the Pune – Dubai flights starts Nov 23.
With capacity reached on seats, IndiGo is adjusting capacity within its network and reducing a flight from Hyderabad to cater to this flight. Additionally, the airline is also swapping slots in Dubai to make this flight work.
IndiGo would be the second carrier on the route and take on SpiceJet which has enjoyed the near monopoly for over a decade. The airline started international operations from Pune with a flight to Sharjah in 2013. Slot coordinator ACL’s early reports had indicated that SpiceJet has lost slots at Dubai for winter schedule, however these reports are indicative and the airline continues to fly this route.
Network Thoughts
For most non-metro cities, there is just one need – a flight each to the east and the west with codeshare options beyond. For Pune, this was possible with Jet Airways flying to Abu Dhabi and beyond with Etihad and to Singapore and beyond with Jetstar / Qantas.
Flights to Dubai, on the other hand, have their own following and market and sustains on its own across a large number of markets.
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