Air India is expanding from Vadodara in the Indian state of Gujarat. This comes as the airline rejigs its Mumbai network in May 2023. On the other hand, IndiGo is also expanding from the city.
New flights to Mumbai
Air India presently operates twice-daily flights between Vadodara and Delhi and that’s it. After a long time, Air India, under its new ownership, is expanding from the city with new flights to Mumbai.
The airline will operate twice-daily flights between Vadodara Airport and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as of 3rd May 2023.
The morning flights will operate with the following schedule:
- Mumbai-Vadodara
- Departure time: 05:15
- Arrival time: 06:30
- Flight time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Flight number: AI669
- Frequency: Daily
- Vadodara-Mumbai
- Departure time: 07:00
- Arrival time: 08:10
- Flight time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
- Flight number: AI670
- Frequency: Daily
The evening flights will operate with the following schedule:
- Mumbai-Vadodara
- Departure time: 17:00
- Arrival time: 18:05
- Flight time: 1 hour and 05 minutes
- Flight number: AI689
- Frequency: Daily
- Vadodara-Mumbai
- Departure time: 18:40
- Arrival time: 19:50
- Flight time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
- Flight number: AI690
- Frequency: Daily
Flights AI669/670 will be operated by Airbus A321 aircraft while flights AI689/690 will be operated by Airbus A319 aircraft. Both of the aircraft will have two classes of service – Business and Economy.
Adding another point from Vadodara
There are two reasons why Air India is starting Mumbai flights from Vadodara. One is that it wants to bring down costs of its Vadodara station. Having four flights instead of two brings down operating costs for a flight which is what an airline wants. The other reason may be the increasing traffic from Vadodara. The latter seems the more logical explanation.
Vadodara is situated almost halfway between the bigger cities of Ahmedabad and Surat and has always been neglected by airlines in terms of new flights offered due to its close proximity with these two cities.
It may not be that there is not enough traffic to sustain new flights. There may be. It’s just that airlines have access to a greater area serving the bigger cities of Ahmedabad and Surat. While Air India has ended over its Surat station to Air Asia India, it continues to strengthen its network in Ahmedabad day by day.
It’s also interesting to see Air India (the airline and not the group) exit Surat and instead expand at Vadodara. While Vadodara has good traffic, Surat is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and one of the most populated too in the country.
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Air India here will surely also be targeting international connections from/to Vadodara and not just Origin & Destination (O&D) traffic. Passengers will easily be able to connect to/from international destinations such as Dubai, London, San Francisco among others. Until now, residents of Vadodara were dependent on international connections from Delhi but now they will have one more option i.e. Mumbai. Of course IndiGo was there earlier too but the like of London and San Francisco are new options out of Mumbai.
As Air India expands internationally from Mumbai, it will have to make its domestic network from the city strong too and Air India seems to be doing just that, first with a new morning flight to Rajkot, then a new daily flight to Coimbatore effective 3rd May 2023 and now this.
IndiGo expands too
IndiGo presently operates 15-weekly flights between Mumbai and Vadodara. Now, as of 3rd May 2023, the airline will add a daily flight, taking the total count to 22-weekly flights. Interesting (and this may not be co-incidentally đŸ˜‰), the launch dates of new flights of both Air India and IndiGo are the same. The new flights’ timings are:
- Mumbai-Vadodara
- Departure time: 15:40
- Arrival time: 17:00
- Flight time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
- Flight number: 6E5186
- Frequency: Daily
- Vadodara-Mumbai
- Departure time: 13:45
- Arrival time: 14:55
- Flight time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
- Flight number: 6E5185
- Frequency: Daily
These flights will operate daily with a Airbus A321 aircraft with standard Economy Class seats. IndiGo has been an old player in the Vadodara-Mumbai market and it will certainly not want to lose its hold on the market.
IndiGo is also starting a new 3-weekly service between Vadodara and North Goa airport as of 22nd May 2023. Flights will operate with the following schedule:
- North Goa-Vadodara
- Departure time: 09:35
- Arrival time: 11:10
- Flight time: 1 hour and 35 minutes
- Flight number: 6E6935
- Frequency: Mondays, Fridays and Sundays
- Vadodara-North Goa
- Departure time: 11:40
- Arrival time: 13:15
- Flight time: 1 hour and 35 minutes
- Flight number: 6E6936
- Frequency: Mondays, Fridays and Sundays
These flights will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft with standard Economy Class seats. Interesting, the flight numbers are the same as those of the newly launched flights between North Goa and Rajkot.
All in all, it’s good to see airlines once again expanding at Vadodara, something which the city has not seen for quite some time now.
Featured image by IndiGo and Air India
What do you think of Air India and IndiGo’s expansion in Vadodara? Let me know in the comments section below.
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