IndiGo Suspends 7 International Routes: What’s Behind the Cutbacks
Photo Credit: IndiGo's first widebody aircraft. IndiGo
Skift Take
India's two biggest airlines spent the last few years expanding aggressively abroad. IndiGo leased wide-body aircraft for the first time. Air India was looking to rebuild into a world-class global carrier. Both are now in retreat, at least temporarily, from some of those ambitions.
India’s largest carrier IndiGo announced on Thursday that it is temporarily stopping flights to Langkawi, Krabi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai from July 1 and to Siem Reap from July 3. All six routes are expected to remain shut until September 30.
The airline said the move is meant to match flying capacity with “softer demand” and “an incredibly challenging cost environment.” It also said it will keep operating more than 1,800 weekly international flights.
IndiGo, on Tuesday, also said it would stop flying to Manchester from August 31, citing longer flight times caused by airspace closures, higher fuel costs, and a wider squeeze on its finances.
The Manchester route had been part of the airline’s push into longer-haul flying using six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft taken on damp or wet lease from Norse Atlantic Airways in early 2025. The idea was to build a presence in Europe before its own Airbus A350 aircraft e
