Route Analysis: Tiruchchirappalli-Doha

Fresh from adding service from the Indian city of Lucknow (LKO), IndiGo is launching another route to Doha (DOH) in Qatar.

Flights from Tiruchchirappalli (TRZ) in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state will start on Aug. 7, operating once a week using 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft.

A Saturday service will be offered by the LCC, with flights departing DOH at 12.35 a.m. and arriving in TRZ at 7.35 a.m. The journey from TRZ leaves at 8.45 a.m. and arrives in Qatar’s capital at 10.55 a.m.

The planned launch increases the number of nonstop India-Qatar routes operated by IndiGo to 11—the joint most alongside Qatar Airways. Air India Express offers six routes, Air India provides two and Vistara serves one.

IndiGo will face competition on TRZ-DOH with Air India Express, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows. Air India Express began regular flights in November 2020 and currently serves the market once a week using Boeing 737-800s, offering 372 two-way weekly seats. IndiGo’s entry will therefore almost double capacity on the route.

O&D traffic between Tiruchchirappalli and Doha amounted to 21,359 two-way passengers in 2019, Sabre Market Intelligence figures reveal, with almost all travelers flying via Colombo (CMB) in Sri Lanka. Preliminary data for the first six months of 2021 shows O&D traffic of 2,395 two-way passengers—70% of which flew nonstop.

IndiGo’s new route will likely appeal to migrant workers as Qatar continues preparations for the FIFA World Cup, taking place in November and December 2022. There are a reported 2 million migrant workers in the country, many of whom are from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

As well as serving DOH from TRZ, IndiGo flies to the city from Bengaluru (BLR), Chennai (MAA), Cochin (COK), Delhi (DEL), Kannur (CNN), Kozhikode (CCJ), Hyderabad (HYD), Lucknow (LKO), Mumbai (BOM), and Thiruvananthapuram (TRV).

TRZ-DOH

Photo credit: Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images