IndiGo announced a codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines last year signalling a new international destination, and followed it up with announcing flights to Istanbul onboard their new A321neo. IndiGo Istanbul Delhi would be the longest flights for the airline for the moment.
Last month they increased the flights on Delhi – Istanbul to double daily with the second frequency on an A320 since no new A321neo aircraft are delivered yet. Currently, IndiGo operates 6E 11 to Istanbul with a technical stop for time being.
When the codeshare agreement was signed, we knew that IndiGo would place its 6E code on flights operated by Turkish Airlines to 20 destinations. Turkish Airlines placed its TK code on IndiGo’s domestic flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
Apart from this, Turkish Airlines also placed its TK code on IndiGo’s double daily flights to Istanbul from Delhi.
Bengaluru-Istanbul on Turkish Airlines website
A couple of days back, IndiGo revealed the first five destinations as a part of the codeshare agreement. Passengers can now book flights to Athens, Brussels, Budapest, Malta and Tel-Aviv through IndiGo. You can fly either Turkish Airlines or IndiGo to Istanbul and connect on Turkish Airlines flights for the onward leg.
All these destinations are majorly tourist places except Brussels. Brussels Airlines used to operate a non-stop flight from Brussels to Mumbai but stopped flying the route this year. Only Tel Aviv has non-stop flights from India on Air India and El-Al. Arkia will soon launch flights to Goa and Kochi from Tel Aviv. Air Malta is considering starting non-stop flights to India.
You can select to fly to and from Istanbul on either Turkish Airlines’ 777-300ER or IndiGo’s A320/A321neo. A comfortable 3-3-3 in Economy on Turkish Airlines’ 777 or slimline seats on IndiGo? An easy decision, right? Flights to Athens from Delhi start at INR 37K roundtrip. On other routes, the fares are around INR 42K roundtrip economy.
Delhi-Athens on IndiGo and Turkish Airlines
The advantage of booking through IndiGo’s website is that you can travel from any Indian city on IndiGo’s network. Think of Surat – Brussels, Bengaluru – Budapest and so-on. When the codeshare covers more European destinations, passengers travelling from Tier 2 and 3 cities will gain the most.
Surat-Brussels on IndiGo and Turkish Airlines
Through the booking process, I couldn’t select any add-ons or pay for my seats. Nor is there an option to add a Miles & Smiles Frequent Flyer number, if you have one. I guess that’s the downside of booking through the IndiGo website instead of Turkish Airlines’ website.
No option for Add-ons on Ahmedabad-Athens on IndiGo
Apart from these five destinations, IndiGo has listed three more airports under the codeshare but hasn’t started reservations for the same. Istanbul – London Heathrow, Istanbul – London Gatwick and Istanbul -Vienna are the next three Turkish Airlines routes on which IndiGo will place its 6E code.
Bottomline
IndiGo is taking a step at a time since it is their first codeshare. They aren’t going all out like they usually do. Instead of adding all 20 destinations in one go, they have started off with five destinations, slowly adding more as they get a hang of it.
You can now book flights to Athens, Brussels, Budapest, Malta and Tel-Aviv through IndiGo’s website on Turkish Airlines from an Indian city on IndiGo’s vast domestic network. Over time, we will see more European destinations bookable through IndiGo.
Where are you heading this summer? Will you be booking one of the codeshare flights?
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