Small Towns flying into Aviation Map

From Times of India (3/11/2006)

MUMBAI: Time was when flying overseas meant a mandatory trip to the nearest metro to board an international flight. No more, however. A320s and B737s are now at the doorstep of the humblest small towns, and the latter promise to be increasingly on the agenda of international airlines.

In 2003, no more than three non-metros were linked to foreign cities by direct flights. The number has now gone up to an impressive 15, with international flights going to Trichy, Gaya, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Pune, Goa, Calicut, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and Coimbatore. According to civil aviation ministry sources, Kanpur, Madurai, Mangalore will join the list in the coming months.

"In the last two years, aviation growth has gone beyond India's metros," says Kapil Kaul, CEO, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. "Most foreign carriers want a foothold in the country’s profitable non-metro routes before the Indian carriers come in. The country is slated to be a 35-market destination in the coming years."

There are 35 Indian cities with a population of over one million which makes them an ideal catchment area for flights to the Middle and Far East.

Kaul prophesies that with the rapid rise in GDP and per capita income, several of these cities could well turn into profitable long-haul routes for carriers as well.

Little wonder that international carriers are salivating at the market opportunity in hitherto sleepy towns . "It was difficult not to notice there were no international flights to the whole of central India, comprising the Vidarbha region, MP, Jabalpur, Chhattisgarh and Telangana region," says Rohit Ramachandran, regional manager (South Asia) of Air Arabia, which was the first international carrier to launch Nagpur-Sharjah direct flights in October 2005.