Mumbai-Delhi is world’s 7th busiest domestic route

At number seven, the Mumbai-Delhi air corridor is among the world’s 10 busiest domestic routes, according to the 2006 findings by UK-based Official Airline Guide (OAG), a travel and transport information company. The survey was based on the number of flights operating per week. OAG collates data from more than 1,000 airlines daily, and tracks around 28 million departures a year. “It’s interesting to note there is very little movement year on year among the overall top 10 busiest routes, with Mumbai-Delhi the only new entrant,” says Duncan Alexander, managing director of business development at OAG.

The route between Barcelona and Madrid has topped the list, edging up from second place this time last year. It has displaced the Brazilian route between Sao Paulo Congonhas and Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont. The Asian region dominates with six in the top 10. Interestingly, China, which is another booming aviation market does not figure in this bracket. The reason; a much more even spread of flights between cities vis-a-vis India, where capacity is concentrated between Mumbai and Delhi. The entry of Mumbai-Delhi ousts Los Angeles-San Diego, which was ranked 10th last year.

Dubbed the "bread and butter corridor" for domestic airlines, 11 per cent of the total seats per week in the country are offered in the Mumbai-Delhi sector. And with over 600 flights per week, the total traffic between the national and financial capitals makes up over 50 per cent of India’s air traffic. Also, flights between the two metros enjoy load factors between 75-80 per cent throughout the year. Welcoming the OAG findings, Kapil Kaul, CEO (Indian sub-continent), Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation says: ‘’This route is among the world’s most competitive, and with the dynamic changes in the Indian aviation market, this was expected.’’

Interestingly, Kaul predicts that within the next two or three years, other Indian city pairs like Mumbai-Bangalore and Bangalore-Delhi, for instance—will feature in similar surveys. After Mumbai-Delhi, the next city pair connected best in the country is Mumbai-Bangalore, on which the number of seats offered per week are less than half available on the former. But not for too long. ‘‘The next big thing is definitely Mumbai-Bangalore, since it’s a shorter route and more flights can be mounted. In fact, there is adequate capacity to cater to the Mumbai-Delhi sector and we have recently cut back on flights on this route—from five to four at present,’’ said Warwick Brady, Chief Operating Officer, Air Deccan. Connecting Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore to Mumbai and Delhi is the ‘‘next growth opportunity’’, says Kaul.

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