IndiGo to add more flights for China, set to enter Central Asian destinations

India's largest passenger carrier IndiGo plans to add more destinations in China next year, after consolidating its presence in West and Southeast Asia. The airline is now planning to make an entry into the Central Asian market, and it has also not ruled-out the possibility to commence a maiden flight service to Cambodia, said an IANS report, adding that it may also start a direct air connection to the UK.

Despite range limitations on its fleet of A320s and 321s currently restricting the airline to the extremities of Asia, mainly to Istanbul in the west, Hong Kong to the east and Ho Chi Minh City on the Southeast Asian side, the airline aspires to eventually operate wide-body jets in the future, IndiGo`s Chief Commercial Officer William Boulter told IANS, adding that China remains the focus for the airline as of now.

Boulter was quoted as saying, "China holds huge potential. We have launched a direct flight to Guangzhou and envisage another flight service to China by early next year. However, everything depends on the response to our new flights." He

At an event in Ho Chi Minh City, he said, "Asia is very important to us... We have tremendous potential to start services to new cities that come under the flying range of our A320s and A321s."

On Friday, the passenger carrier commenced direct daily operations between Kolkata and Ho Chi Minh City, the commercial capital of Vietnam. The new daily service comes days after the IndiGo operated its maiden flight to the Southeast Asian country`s administrative capital Hanoi from Kolkata.

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Notably, the airline is on a massive international expansion plan, and has already launched 5 flights in the last 5 weeks to Myanmar, China, Vietnam and Kuwait. Indigo operates almost 1,500 daily flights with a fleet of over 240 aircraft, as it flies to 60 domestic and 23 international routes.