IndiGo adds 8 new daily flights

Budget carrier IndiGo has added eight new flights in its pan-India network, which will take the total number of daily flights operated by the airline to 679.

The new services, effective from today, include a second non-stop daily flight between Chennai and Kochi, a third direct daily connection to Guwahati from Delhi, a ninth daily non-stop flight between Hyderabad and Delhi as well as the 10th daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Chennai, IndiGo said in a statement.

The new flights connect Delhi to Chennai, Chennai to Kochi, Guwahati to Delhi and Hyderabad to Delhi, among other routes, it said.

"The increased flow of tourist and business traffic to and from these cities gave us the opportunity to launch additional flights and serve more passengers on board," IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh said.

Significantly, the Gurgaon-based carrier, which got listed on the bourses last October, had recently come under flak for offloading of passengers from its various flights, alleging "unruly behaviour".

One such incident, in which it offloaded 70 passengers from its Raipur-bound flight from Hyderabad allegedly due to the same reason, is under the DGCA scanner.

The incident, fourth such related to IndiGo in the last one month, triggered a controversy with the aggrieved passengers alleging "harassment" by the airline's staff and lodging a police complaint.

"IndiGo has sent a report (on the offloading incident). We need to examine all details," a top DGCA official had said earlier this week.