He noted that more than a third of the world’s population live in India and China, making the resumption of flights “an incredibly important moment for us”.
Elbers, who was on the first New Delhi-Guangzhou flight that touched down at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Monday, said the route is expected to serve a mix of business travellers, students and leisure passengers.
“As the borders open and as visas will start to flow, (there will be) the opportunity to further build on that and address the multiple market segments – not only the commercial ones, but perhaps also students and other forms of collaboration and connections between the two countries,” he added.
STRONG DEMAND, FUTURE GROWTH
Elbers said early demand for the route has been robust – Monday’s New Delhi-Guangzhou flight was full except for two passengers who did not show up.
Prior to the reinstatement of the direct flight, passengers were already travelling to both points via intermediate stops in Asia and the Middle East, he added.
“We see a strong demand … so I’m very upbeat and optimistic about the outlook,” Elbers said.
When asked how IndiGo intends to maintain high seat occupancy in the long term, he noted that expanding economic links between India and China would help sustain traffic.
“As things are moving forward, I think the two governments have taken steps to enhance that commercial relationship between the two countries,” he said.
Considering the vast number of people residing in India and China, more direct flights would “create a lot of new relationships”, he added.
Source: CNA
