India's largest low-fare airline, IndiGo, has been granted international traffic rights, by the Government of India, to operate services from several cities in India to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Muscat during the forthcoming summer schedule. As per Indian aviation rules, a new airline has to fly for five years on domestic skies before it can be permitted to fly on international routes.
In a statement, the company said: “IndiGo is delighted to receive these important traffic rights, and is grateful to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for approving its application in a timely manner. As IndiGo turns five in August 2011, this approval dovetails well into its planning process. This will hasten the process of Indian carriers taking back some of the market share that has been lost over the past many decades to foreign carriers. At the same time, this will allow airport operators in India to benefit from the significant investments they have made in developing the airport infrastructure necessary, to meet the growing needs of the traveling public. The schedules and dates for the launch of these international services will be announced in the coming months."
With a fleet of 34 new Airbus A320 aircraft , the airline offers 221 daily flights connecting 24 destinations - Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur, Jammu, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Srinagar, Trivandrum and Vadodara. IndiGo is India’s second-largest airline with a market share of 18.6 per cent.
IndiGo is promoted by InterGlobe Enterprises and Rakesh Gangwal, an aviation industry veteran and entrepreneur. InterGlobe is a leading travel conglomerate in India and enjoys a wide-ranging presence in the fields of airline & aviation management, travel related services, travel technology, travel distribution services and hotel development & management services. Its aviation management experience includes representation of 13 leading international airlines and offers services ranging from sales and marketing to revenue and route management. It also offers distribution, technology and BPO services for the travel and aviation industries.