For travellers prepared to put up with inflexible amendment policies or landing at provincial airports an hour outside the nominal destination city or pricey add-ons for luggage, budget short-haul flying has long been popular for its cheap base fares.
Some airlines have tried to apply the model to longer-distance flights, including AirAsia, which links Kuala Lumpur to Australia, East Africa, Central Asia, Japan and South Korea.
“The jury has been out on the potential for a sustainable long-haul low-cost airline operation for many years and whilst many have tried, few have cracked the challenge,” according to aviation industry analysis company OAG.
After all, while scant legroom or limits on luggage or no in-flight entertainment are minor discomforts on a one-hour or 90-minute short flight, they could be off-putting when up in the air for eight or nine hours.
But IndiGo, India’s biggest budget carrier, could be best-placed to crack the code of low-cost long-distance flying, as the country’s huge population could give the airline the foundation to build a low-cost long-haul model as disposable incomes grow.
India is “no longer an emergent market – it is the market of international focus and the centre for aviation growth in the next decade,” according to OAG.
China and India recently agreed to end their mutual air travel ban, which was imposed in 2020 after they almost went to war over disputed territory along their Himalayan border.
The resumption of air travel should come “at an early date,” according to the governments of the two countries, which have a combined population of over three billion people.
Restarting China-India flights should in turn fuel demand for long-distance connections such as Delhi-Beijing, a 9-10 hour flight.
And with millions of Indians working in the Middle East, Europe and North America, demand for IndiGo’s long-haul flights looks set to grow.
