Lots of customers booked on Istanbul flights for travel beyond Turkey: IndiGo CEO

IndiGo chief executive officer Pieter Elbers on Wednesday said that “lots and lots of Indian customers” are booked on the airline’s flights to Istanbul which serves as a base for air passengers travelling to other parts of the world with IndiGo’s codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines.

“We have a codeshare with Turkish where we fly to a certain point and beyond that the customer flies with some other carrier,” Elbers said during the analyst call after IndiGo announced its fourth-quarter earnings.

“The flights between India and Turkey are within the framework of the air service agreement between the two nations. The operations are fully compliant and in line not only with the regulatory framework but also with the rules and regulations from the government,” Elbers. “We still have lots and lots of Indian customers booked on these flights mostly connecting over Istanbul and flying to other parts of the world for their travel needs,” he explained.

IndiGo currently operates two nonstop flights to Istanbul from Delhi and Mumbai. Both these flights use damp-leased Boeing 777 aircraft from Turkish Airlines. When asked if IndiGo would renew its damp lease with Turkish Airlines, Elbers said that it is up to the government to decide. “These operations have served Indian customers well,” he said.

In case these damp leases are not renewed, Elbers said that the airline will deal with that situation and adjust its network accordingly.

India's ties with Turkey have strained following the India-Pakistan conflict. Several travel platforms have called for a boycott of Turkey for its support of Pakistan amid recent tensions.

Closure of airspace over Pakistan hits IndiGo

On the closure of Pakistan’s airspace for Indian carriers, Elbers said the airline has cancelled flights to two international destinations--Almaty and Tashkent. The airspace closure has also increased flying time for 34 international flights by 20-30 minutes, said Elbers.

“There are 34 flights (19 routes) where average flying time has increased by 20-30 minutes. We wish it was not there but IndiGo can deal with it,” the IndiGo CEO said.

“There is some financial impact due to additional fuel but it in the grand scheme of things at IndiGo, the impact for us is relatively limited,” said Elbers. “The strength of a diversified network operating from a country with large geographical scope is really helping us. To put things in perspective, IndiGo operates 131 destinations. Due to the closure of Pakistani airspace, we have suspended 2 destinations,” he explained.

The recent conflict between India and Pakistan led to the shutdown of 32 airports across the country, prompting airlines to cancel flights and issue refunds. Out of 32 airports that were closed amid India-Pakistan conflict, 11 airports were served by IndiGo. The budget airline, which operates over 2,200 flights per day, had to cancell around 170 flights each day.

“It's difficult to say the exact loss. For a little over a week, 170 daily flights were cancelled. The month of April started quite strong and clearly May will be a dampener. After the ceasefire, the traffic is returning. We are confident that May will be lower, but from June we will see recovery of the traffic,” Elbers said, adding that all these flights have been reinstated and the airline is seeing demand bouncing back.

The recent tensions between India and Pakistan are expected to hit IndiGo’s revenue in the ongoing quarter. “Following the geo-political disruption, we are seeing some impact on our overall revenue environment due to increase in cancellations and impact on booking trends. The trend has started to reverse. We are hopeful that from May-end and June will see a recovery,” IndiGo chief financial officer Gaurav M. Negi said during the analyst call.