When the summer schedule started in March 2021, we had a surprise – Indigo had dropped Jabalpur from its route network. Until then, the airline had an impeccable record of not abandoning a station after it started till the extent that when it curtailed flights to Singapore from Delhi and Mumbai, it launched them from Chennai and kept Singapore active. Indigo’s drop also seemed like a victory for SpiceJet since there has rarely been a case where Spicejet has been able to hold its fort after IndiGo joined in. However, Indigo is returning to Jabalpur stronger than ever.
Back with a bang
After a brief period, Indigo is returning to Jabalpur. The Indian low-cost carrier had launched Jabalpur as its 66th destination in January 2019 with a single daily flight to Hyderabad operated by the airline’s ATR72 aircraft. After that, the airline connected the city with Kolkata. However, now, Indigo is betting very strongly on Jabalpur with launch of Airbus A320 flights.
Starting 20th August 2021, Indigo will operate flights between Jabalpur Airport and
- Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
- Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport
- Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport
- Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport
The flight schedule of Mumbai-Jabalpur-Mumbai route is:
- Mumbai-Jabalpur
- Departure time: 06:25
- Arrival time: 08:15
- Flight time: 1 hour and 50 minutes
- Flight number: 6E917
- Frequency: Daily
- Jabalpur-Mumbai
- Departure time: 08:45
- Arrival time: 10:10
- Flight time: 1 hour and 25 minutes
- Flight number: 6E916
- Frequency: Daily
The flight schedule of Delhi-Jabalpur-Delhi route is:
- Delhi-Jabalpur
- Departure time: 09:20
- Arrival time: 10:40
- Flight time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
- Flight number: 6E2016
- Frequency: Daily
- Jabalpur-Delhi
- Departure time: 11:10
- Arrival time: 12:35
- Flight time: 1 hour and 25 minutes
- Flight number: 6E2017
- Frequency: Daily
The flight schedule of Jabalpur-Hyderabad-Jabalpur route is:
- Jabalpur-Hyderabad
- Departure time: 09:40
- Arrival time: 11:55
- Flight time: 2 hours and 15 minutes
- Flight number: 6E7743
- Frequency: Daily
- Hyderabad-Jabalpur
- Departure time: 12:30
- Arrival time: 14:45
- Flight time: 2 hours and 15 minutes
- Flight number: 6E7744
- Frequency: Daily
The flight schedule of Indore-Jabalpur-Indore route is:
- Indore-Jabalpur
- Departure time: 07:45
- Arrival time: 09:20
- Flight time: 1 hour and 35 minutes
- Flight number: 6E7742
- Frequency: Daily
- Jabalpur-Indore
- Departure time: 15:05
- Arrival time: 16:40
- Flight time: 1 hour and 35 minutes
- Flight number: 6E7745
- Frequency: Daily
Stay up to date: Sign up for my newsletter to never miss latest Aviation and Travel news.
Flights to Mumbai and Delhi will be operated by the airline’s Airbus A320s while flights to Hyderabad and Indore will be operated by ATR72-600 aircraft.
Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer, Indigo, said:
We are pleased to announce Jabalpur as our new domestic destination to realise our vision of strengthening regional connectivity. These direct connections will not only enhance trade and commerce, but also tourism in Jabalpur, especially at this time when Indians are increasingly looking towards domestic vacations, and unexplored gems in the country. Indigo is committed to providing an affordable, on-time, safe and hassle-free travel experience onboard our lean clean flying machine.
Competition
Indigo will face some strong competition in Jabalpur. Alliance Air, subsidiary of Air India, operates flights to Delhi and Bilaspur from the city.
The real competition that the airline will face is from SpiceJet. SpiceJet operates flights to Mumbai (daily), Delhi (twice daily), Pune (daily), Bengaluru (daily), Hyderabad (daily) and Surat (3-weekly). Flights to Surat and Pune were launched just last month.
We will have to wait to see if SpiceJet will up the game with additional capacity, like it did for Rajkot and Leh when Indigo entered the market.
SpiceJet first launched flights to Jabalpur in 2012 with flights from Mumbai, operated by the Q-400 aircraft. Later on, the airline added flights to Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, Indigo recently launched flights from Darbhanga, Bihar. The airline will operate daily flights to Hyderabad and Kolkata from the city. Indigo has launched flights on a brand-new route connecting Hyderabad and Srinagar. The airline has also announced a new route between Lucknow and Doha and is offering 10% discount to vaccinated passengers. Indigo will launch flights to Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh too.
Featured image by Twitter/Indigo
What do you think of Indigo’s re-entry in the Jabalpur market? How do you think will SpiceJet react to this? Let me know in the comments section below.
Follow IH Aviation and Travel on Social Media on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.