The long and the short of India's aviation sector

The Tata Group acquired Air India back from the government with a winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore

The Northern summer 2022 schedule started with a lot of hope for airlines. The industry has been upbeat, even with rising costs and challenges on multiple fronts. Passengers have started travelling and business travel has returned in pockets. Yet, the flights deployed haven’t crossed 75 percent of the approved schedule and passenger numbers are still 20 percent lower than the pre-Covid numbers.

Amidst this, a slew of new flights has been announced by airlines, with some new sectors and some reinstatements across the length and breadth of the country. This comes even when aviation in the region has taken a hit, with the likes of AirAsia group and Lion Air group, with operations in multiple countries, taking a hit like never before. Airlines in India, on the other hand, have managed to scrape through thus far with measures like employee salary cuts, which could start hurting later.

In the backdrop of new routes and reinstatements, a look at the longest and shortest flights in the domestic skies in India shows that the now privatised Air India holds the record for both. The airline operates a non-stop flight between Delhi and Port Blair, which at 2,482 km is the longest domestic flight in India.

With a good number of turboprops in Indian skies, one would have thought that the ATR or the Q400 would operate the shortest route in Indian skies, but that is not the case. Air India also operates the shortest flight in Indian skies, between Calicut and Kannur, which at 95 km is shorter than the extreme ends of the National Capital Region (NCR).

The shortest routes in Indian skies

The route between Jammu and Srinagar is the most popular shortest route for airlines in India. At 143 km, this route is the shortest in the network for Go First, Vistara and the Boeing network of SpiceJet.

For IndiGo, the shortest route is between Jammu and Amritsar, operating only once a week. At 108 km, the route is shorter than the shortest route on its ATR network, between Silchar and Shillong, which covers a distance of 134 km.

SpiceJet, which also has a turboprop aircraft in its fleet, is no different. The shortest route on Q400, between Gorakhpur and Varanasi, is longer than the shortest route flown by its Boeing aircraft. The Gorakhpur-Varanasi route was started recently and covers a distance of 154 km.

For AirAsia India, an all-A320 operator, the shortest route is between Delhi and Jaipur, at 230 km.

The shortest route for Alliance Air, the only airline owned by the government after the sale of Air India, is the Dimapur-Imphal flight at 124 km. The airline is an all ATR 72-600 operator and is expected to induct two ATR 42-600 and two Do-228 aircraft in the near future, which could alter the shortest route in the network.

Star Air, the only operator of regional jets in India, operates the jet to its true potential with the shortest flight being 370 km, between Bengaluru and Hubli.

The longest routes 

While the longest flight is between Delhi and Port Blair, market leader IndiGo’s longest flight is between Delhi and Trivandrum, which is a distance of 2,232 km. Vistara also operates the same sector, making it the longest flight within its network.

IndiGo’s ATR network has its longest flight between Kolkata and Raipur, where one out of three daily flights is operated by ATR. The airline had categorically mentioned that it will not operate ATR flights on routes where the A320 operates to avoid confusing passengers.

The Kolkata-Raipur sector sees the ATR operate the last of the three flights and takes 45 minutes more than Airbus flights. ATR advertises the range of the ATR 72-600 at 1,528 km. Alliance Air, which also operates the ATR 72-600, operates its longest flight between Kolkata and Lilabari, which is a distance of 766 km.

The Q400, which SpiceJet operates, flies from Bengaluru to Gwalior, a distance of 1,456 km, in three hours and five minutes, making it the longest flight in SpiceJet’s turboprop network. The Q400 has a range of 2,000 km. The longest flight in SpiceJet’s Boeing network is also from Bengaluru, with the airline operating a 2,039-km-long flight to Guwahati.

Guwahati also figures in the list of longest flights for AirAsia India, which operates its longest flight between Mumbai and Guwahati, a distance of 2,070 km. Go First, the all-A320 operator, has its longest flight between Delhi and Bengaluru, at 1,708 km.

Star Air, the E-145 operator, operates its longest route between Bengaluru and Jamnagar, a distance of 1,312 km. The regional jets are meant for long thin routes and the airline, at least in this case, seems to be making good use of the aircraft.

Tail Note

For both IndiGo and SpiceJet, the shortest routes in their network are not on turboprops but on jets. Likewise, while IndiGo might be the market leader, it is Air India that has both the longest and shortest routes in the country.

From Japan to the US, airlines have tried and been successful in deploying wide-body aircraft on domestic routes. India does not have the volume for these just yet to make the cost metrics work. And while narrow-body aircraft have a range exceeding 6,000 km, the farthest points in the country do not have as much traffic to get connected.