Indore: The rising price of Air Turbine Fuel (AFT) have forced the Indigo airlines to withdraw operation of non-stop 6E-648 Indore-Hyderabad flight from the city. Still two flights one each of Indigo and Air Asia are operating on the route. Frequent flyers of the city were in shock on Monday when they came to know that the leading private airliner Indigo was going to withdraw operation of its non-stop Indore-Hyderabad flight from May 1. As per the schedule, the flight departs from the city at 9.30pm and arrives in Hyderabad at 10.50pm.
The news came as a jolt to flyers particularly when passenger traffic from the city to all the existing and prominent destinations is on the upward swing. Shailendra Khare, Managing Director of Network Travels Pvt. Ltd, said that due to the rising prices of ATF, airlines are unable to hold the break-even. Therefore, they are withdrawing operation of some flights from the small routes. Explaining about the small routes, Khare said that cities come under category of tire-2 or tire-3 as per the perspective of the airlines. Therefore, Indigo was forced to stop the operation of the flight from the city.
It may be pointed out that ATF prices have been hiked by over one per cent from March 1 by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). It is the second straight monthly increase in rates coming on the back of firming global prices. Resultantly, the prices of ATF have been raised by about Rs680 per kilolitre. However, the air connectivity with the gorgeous capital city of Telangana is still continues with 2 daily non-stop flights each from Indigo and Air Asia.
Existing flights for Hyderabad
MD of Network Travels Pvt. Ltd. Shailendra Khare said that the operation of other Indigo flight 6E-496 Indore-Hyderabad still continues. The flight departs from the city at 12.35pm and arrives in Hyderabad at 1.50pm. Similarly, Air Asia’s flight I5-511 departs from the city at 5.15pm and arrives in Hyderabad at 6.10pm.