IndiGo to withdraw Manchester flights amid ‘dramatically’ spiralling costs

Indian low fares carrier IndiGo is to withdraw flights from Manchester, citing “dramatically escalating costs”.

Flights to the northwest hub will be discontinued from August 31 with one of six leased Boeing 787 Dreamliners returned to Norse Atlantic Airways.

The airline confirmed that all its remaining long-haul flights will continue as planned.

IndiGo leased the aircraft from Norse Atlantic last year in an effort to establish itself in Europe ahead of the delivery of its own Airbus A350s.

“However, the airline has since experienced the significant impact of prevailing industry-wide challenges, including geopolitical developments in the Middle East, rising aviation fuel costs, severe airspace constraints and foreign volatility resulting in operating costs being considerably higher than originally envisaged,” a statement said.    

Flights between Manchester and Mumbai started three times a week last July. 

A second route between Manchester and Delhi saw frequency reduced in February.

Network planning and revenue management senor ice president Abhijit Dasgupta said: “We inducted these wide-body aircraft on a short-term basis to fact-track our connectivity to high potential long-haul destinations such as Manchester, and witnessed very encouraging demand response.

“It is therefore unfortunate that flying times due to airspace constraints coupled with dramatically escalating costs compelled us to take the decision to temporarily discontinue or India-Manchester services.

“The response and support for these services have reinforced our belief in the opportunity for IndiGo’s long-haul ambitions, and this discontinuation is temporary in nature.

“We look forward to serving this route again at the earliest viable opportunity and are exploring innovative solutions to continuing our collaboration with Norse Atlantic Airways.”