INDIGO: Enhanced connectivity

The airline provides multiple routes and affordable travel options to the Indian diaspora in the Middle East

IndiGo ventured into the Middle East in 2011 with the launch of Dubai and Muscat as its first international destinations. From three daily flights in 2011, IndiGo has established itself as a preferred carrier on India - Middle East routes with increased capacities and compelling fares on Sharjah, Muscat and Dubai sectors over the years. 
It operates 54 daily flights to and from the Middle East region as of today, thus providing enhanced connectivity for both business and leisure travellers. 
IndiGo enjoys a load factor of over 86 per cent on all flights departing from Dubai and over 86 per cent for flights arriving in Dubai (from October till December 2017), about 57 per cent on all flights departing from Muscat and about 69 per cent for flights arriving in Muscat. 
Sharjah too has recorded strong response with an average of 83 per cent load factor, as of December 2017. 
Over the years, the airline has observed an exponential growth in tourism between India and the Gulf due to increasing business ties and demand for holiday travel. 
The year 2016-17 saw IndiGo operate maiden flights from Sharjah to Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram and additional flights to Muscat. It also launched maiden flights between Sharjah-Hyderabad and Sharjah-Lucknow, which not only helped the airline cater to the growing tourist potential of the cities, but also provided affordable travel option to the Indian diaspora workforce who can now look forward to visiting their homes more frequently. 
With this, IndiGo became the first Indian carrier operating Sharjah flights from Hyderabad and also starting the first and only Lucknow - Sharjah connection.
Expanding operations to Sharjah on the 6E network is in response to the growing demand on the sector, says the airline. These new flights will also open up immense connectivity to and fro for other cities on its network, supported by the 150-strong Airbus-320 fleet. 
IndiGo was recently ranked as the fourth most punctual airline globally in the mega airline category by OAG, the air travel intelligence company, in its annual review - Punctuality League 2018. OAG recognises airlines that have consistently clocked highest On-time Performance (OTP) by including on-time performance for the world's Top 20 busiest domestic and international routes, and other categories. 
IndiGo was ranked fourth amongst top 20 mega airlines (The world's top 20 operators globally in terms of scheduled flights in 2017) and ninth amongst top 20 low-cost carriers (LCCs) by OTP. 
It is the only Indian airline to have made it in the list of top 20 mega airlines, says IndiGo. 
Punctuality League Report is a comprehensive annual report presented by OAG that reveals rankings of all airlines - mainline, low-cost and by region. The report aims to highlight carriers who have consistently demonstrated high performance and deliver on their promise to get passengers to their destinations in a timely manner. 
For detailed analysis, the OAG defined OTP as flights that arrive or depart within 14 minutes and 59 seconds (under 15 minutes) of their scheduled arrival/departure times. 
"We are thrilled ... just can't hide the excitement of having been able to take India and IndiGo to amongst the very best in the world and one of the top five mega airlines globally in terms of on-time performance in the OAG Punctuality League 2018," said Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo. "Flying our planes on time is one of our core promises to our customers. This achievement reinforces IndiGo's commitment of providing our fliers with an on-time, hassle free experience at low fares, always."
As per the DGCA data, IndiGo among all operating airlines has successfully maintained highest on-time performance on a month-on- month basis over a long period of time due to its operational efficiency and faster turnaround.
The entire fleet of over 150 aircraft is equipped with technology called Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS). Before departure of every IndiGo flight, an automatic message is trigged from the aircraft via ACARS to the operations control centre (OCC) - and immediately the same departure time gets recorded in the software. 
Likewise, the moment an aircraft lands at the destination, an automatic message is trigged from the aircraft to the OCC. These timings are recorded 'real time', automatically through ACARS. 
In 2018 and years to come, IndiGo will continue to expand to high-demand cities between India and abroad including the Middle-East to provide convenient travel options for business and leisure travellers.

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