Airlines head South to benefit from better infra

Even as infrastructure constraints deter the growth of air travel across the country, the southern states are attracting new flights.

Out of around 50 daily flights added in this year's summer schedule, which came into effect on April 1, more than 30 emanate from cities in the South, including Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trichy, Coimbatore and Vizag.

Two reasons have prompted this move "" the launch of two new airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore, and capacity constraints in Delhi and Mumbai.

"The key reason is the construction of new airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore, which can handle extra passengers and flights. These are going to become key hubs in the future," said a Kingfisher executive. The carrier has added as many as 11 flights to and from the southern region, mostly in Bangalore and Hyderabad, even as it has pulled out some flights from other metros, including Delhi and Mumbai.

Its budget subsidiary Simplifly Deccan has put 9 out of its 18 new flights to the South. Besides, 10 out of another 14 flights awaiting approval of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are proposed to be operated in the region.

Six out of seven additional flights of Air India will be operated to and from the South.

Airports in the southern part of the country account for around 25-30 per cent of the total domestic traffic in the country. Also, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) estimates, air travel in the region is estimated to grow at least 30 per cent faster than in the rest of the country.

"The two other important metros "" Delhi and Mumbai "" have very limited slots available. In fact, the Mumbai airport gave a mandate to all airlines saying no new flights would be allowed from the city this summer. Also, since travel mostly takes place between metros or metros and non-metros, the infrastructure constraints in Delhi and Mumbai would affect the growth of non-metro destinations in the northern and western regions," said Keyur Joshi, COO of travel portal Makemytrip.

"Therefore, the two key metros for the airlines are Hyderabad and Bangalore. As a result, other non-metros in the South, like Vizag and Coimbatore, will see a relatively high growth," he added.