IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International) has cancelled its international relaunch out of Vijayawada in eastern India due on October 29, as its Singapore Changi route will not be resumed as originally planned, ch-aviation research has revealed.
Seven months after it started on December 4, 2018, operated 2x weekly onboard A320-200 equipment, IndiGo terminated its maiden international service from Vijayawada to Singapore's Changi airport at the end of May. This was because the state government of Andhra Pradesh failed to extend Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to the airline beyond the first six months.
The government, acting through the special purpose vehicle Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Limited (APADCL), had hired Indigo on the basis of paying up to INR30 million (USD435,000) towards the VGF when the load factor dipped below 50%. But it dropped the deal in June citing what it said was consistently poor demand, The Hindu newspaper reported.
India's central government granted international status to Vijayawada Airport, located at Gannavaram where National Highway 16 connects the cities of Chennai and Kolkata, in May 2017, but it was only after the state government offered VGF to encourage more airlines that IndiGo stepped forward.
