Govt nod to IndiGo for starting international flights from August

India’s largest low-fare airline IndiGo was granted international traffic rights today by the Government of India. It will start operating flights on the Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Muscat routes from several Indian cities from August.

In a statement, the company said: “IndiGo is delighted to receive the important traffic rights, and is grateful to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for approving its application in a timely manner.” Indian aviation rules restrict new airlines to operate flights to international destinations for the first five years. Indigo has fulfilled all regulatory requirements and will complete five years of domestic operations in August.

“As IndiGo turns five in August 2011, this approval dovetails well into its planning process. This will hasten the process of Indian carriers taking back some of the market share that has been lost over the past many decades to foreign carriers. At the same time, this will allow airport operators in India to benefit from the significant investments they have made in developing the airport infrastructure necessary, to meet the growing needs of the traveling public. The schedules and dates for the launch of these international services will be announced in the coming months.”

With a fleet of 34 new Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline offers 221 daily flights connecting 24 destinations — Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur ,Jammu, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Srinagar, Trivandrum and Vadodara.