'India becoming a convenient hub for travel between SE Asia & Middle East': IndiGo Chairman
India is slowly becoming a convenient hub for travel between Southeast Asia and the Middle East as airlines prefer to transfer people by connecting through Indian cities, a top industry official said. There is huge growth in India and many domestic routes are used by airlines for connectivity, V Sumantran, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (IndiGo Airlines) said here on Saturday. Delivering his address at the 65th Institute Day of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, he said that IndiGo Airlines started off as a low-cost airline in 2006 and has made the largest single order in the aviation industry by ordering 500 aircrafts in France.
«India needed an airline that will provide affordable travel for many of us and the net result we can see. Even now we see India really moving forward with a lot more speed on infrastructure development. We have about 140 operating airports now and that would become 220 by 2030. We are seeing a huge increase in regional travel,» Sumantran, an IIT-Madras alumni, said.
IndiGo is a very young airline by global airline standards. But the entire platform of IndiGo has been affordable fares, courteous service, on-time performance, and a «very well networked» route system which India needed, he said.
Citing an example that a lot of airlines were transferring people from places like Bangkok via India to reach Jeddah or Dubai in the Middle East by connecting through Indian cities, he said, «India is slowly becoming a convenient hub for travel between
