- flyadeal launched non-stop flights between Mumbai and Riyadh, its second Indian destination
- Despite high fuel prices, flyadeal continues to expand its India routes from Riyadh
- India's price-sensitive market demands thoughtful pricing amid strong travel demand
As airlines from the Middle East countries continue to focus on routes to India given the projected growth in traffic and passenger numbers, flyadeal — Saudia Group's fast-growing low-cost carrier and one of the largest low-cost airlines in the GCC — has launched its non-stop service between Mumbai and Riyadh, marking the airline's second destination in India after Hyderabad, and further strengthening its presence in one of its key international markets.
Sanjiv Kapoor, acting CEO, flyadeal & executive VP strategy at Saudia Group, told NDTV that despite the volatility, airspace closures and high fuel prices, airlines are betting on big growth on these routes. flyadeal is expanding in India with flights to Hyderabad and Mumbai from Riyadh and Kapoor was speaking at an event to mark flyadeal' s entry into the Mumbai aviation market.
"Fuel prices currently are double of what they were and it's not easy for the airline industry but we need still need to continue with our business plan, take informed decisions and continue to grow and we can't just sit back and say, 'Oh what is happening to us'. We need to keep moving. India expansion was part of the plan earlier. We've slowed it down a little. We might have done this faster but we have no intent to not do it," Kapoor told NDTV.
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"We started Hyderabad in July after fuel prices doubled and we are starting Bombay now. We need to be thoughtful about our pricing and everything else, keeping in mind that India is a price-sensitive market but the demand between the two countries is huge. So regardless of the situation, people want to travel between these two countries. The bilaterals are pretty positive so we want to not just sit back and wait for things to happen. We want to make things happen as well," he added.
Kapoor, an aviation veteran in India, began his career with Northwest Airlines, and has worked with Jet Airways, Go Air, Vistara and Spice Jet. As the third-largest low-cost airline in the Middle East region, flyadeal looking at strengthening its presence in India, and Mumbai is an important milestone in that journey. The airline is also looking at destinations like Lucknow, Calicut, Ahmedabad and Surat.
But there are challenges for foreign airlines to expand to fly to other cities in India. "The bilaterals between Saudi Arabia and India have not been exhausted yet. In terms of number of seats and number of passengers there is room for growth and it's not exhausted. That's a very positive thing. In terms of what is constrained it is the number of stations that you can fly to. It's limited on both sides.
"We are very keen, Saudi Arabia is very keen, to increase the number of stations. Discussions have taken place between the two ministries and in fact the ministers of both countries discussed this and there is desire on both sides to liberalise the bilaterals to allow more ports of call and we hope that happens soon," Kapoor added.
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