TravTalk India Online Magazine
Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, IndiGo, shares insights on the airline’s activities, plans for revival and future strategies, along with benefits that travel agents can avail via IndiGo’s newly-launched charter services. He also shares details on the cash refunds initiated by IndiGo.
Manas Dwivedi
Q How has demand been post resumption of operations?
We were pleasantly surprised, with the booking trends showcasing a consistent demand even after the first few days of flying. Even though aircraft occupancy is not the same as the pre-lockdown level, it is encouraging that the demand is sustaining even a month after resuming scheduled flights; the travel trend keeps going up in terms of unit revenue and future bookings. Where we stand now, we think 30 per cent of capacity is too low; we feel bullish about going to 50 per cent.
Q Tell us about the charter service tand how can agents or tour operators participate?
Charter flights are certainly an emerging trend and we foresee demand for a customised flying experience, with people prioritising safety and social distancing during air travel. So far we have seen demand for charter services from organisations for their employees, and individuals for safe travel with their families. We are also seeing a sustained demand for international charters for repatriation of Indians stranded abroad. We are flying around 60-70 charters a week including all cargo missions, both international and domestic. Travel agents can apply for domestic trips for individuals, families, corporates or leisure groups via our website or directly call our sales team. For international charters, which are mainly repatriation flights at this point, these have to be approved by the relevant Indian Embassy and, again, initial application with IndiGo can be submitted on our website. Agents need to book domestic charters at least 10 days in advance, while at least three weeks are required for international charters, to arrange the requisite approvals. A number of travel agents are exploring this opportunity for their clients, and our sales team is always at service to meet such requirements in a seamless and efficient way.
Q Has COVID-19 considerably altered your future plans?
There are, undoubtedly, infrastructure problems, but we are making steady progress. The number of flights are increasing, some of the markets are showing business improvements as well. Therefore, we believe that the global aviation market will rebuild itself from this halt. So, we may have a challenging situation currently in the short term, but we are optimistic that India will continue to deliver growth of passengers in years to come.
We have undertaken measures like negotiating better prices and terms with our partners, staggering pay cuts, placing our discretionary expenses on hold, and deferring certain capital expenditure projects to reduce costs.
Q How are you addressing customer grievance of refunds?
IndiGo has offered refunds against the DGCA order of April 16, 2020, to customers and our travel partners. We have also started adjusting the credit shell amount prior to March 25, for travel agents. In addition, we are also following the normal cancellation and refund policy for the booking/travel getting affected due to the limitations put by various state governments. After the skies opened up and bookings grew, we extended the benefit of cash refunds to our travel agents and customers by revising our cancellation policy. To make it hassle-free, we have empowered our customers to make a choice digitally, to be able to either claim a full refund or rebook alternate flights at no extra charge. This refund is over and above the directive issued by DGCA to refund ticket amount for flights booked and scheduled to travel during lockdown period from March 24, 2020 to May 03, 2020.
