As the Sindoor Operation has taken over the centers, the murmur held in the last many months has taken some strong voices and asked for a boycott of Turkey and Azerbaijan. Social media was flooded with statistics, some verified, some did not verify how many passengers from India traveled to these countries. As the ceasefire announcement was issued, more and more travel companies have decided not to accept reservations for Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Cox & Kings decided to pause reservations to Turkey, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. This was followed by Ixigo, who decided to reserve for Azerbaijan, Turkey and China. Many smaller travel companies have joined and recommended against traveling to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Why do companies do that?
Turkey, Azerbaijan and China have been open to support Pakistan during the Sindoor Operation with Turkish drones, which are used in large quantities against India. These countries have also shown open support for Pakistan and Pakistani claim to Kashmir in the past.
Although there is no direct interconnection of air between India and China, there are direct flights to Turkey and Azerbaijan. Indigo and Turkish airlines offer one flight to Delhi and Bombai from Istanbul, a total of 28 week departures. Indigo has a daily flight to Baku from Delhi, while Azerbaijani Airways runs Delhi and Mumbai, a total of seven flights a week divided between both cities.
Turkey – the eye of the storm
When Air India decided to appoint I ̇lker Aycı as its CEO, there was a stir as no other, which eventually led to pulling Ilci himself. The cooperation between the Indian aviation ecosystem and Turkey was much greater than one person. Turkish airlines were the first Codeshare partner for Indigo and Indigo operates Turkish airlines B777 on humid rental to Istanbul, increasing its passengers to 531 out of 232.
Turkish technology, engineering arm of Turkish airlines, are engaged in Indigo and Air India for various services. Recently, Turkish technology has reported on their new agreement with Air India to maintain fleet Boeing 777 Air India, while there is already an Air India Express 737 aircraft maintenance agreement. Indigo is also engaged in Turkish A320neo maintenance and maintenance control technology.
What to do next?
It seems very unlikely that airlines will get from shops, especially on the side of technology.
However, market dynamics determines flights and capacity. For example, the Maldives today have much less flights to India than what it had during the pandemic, because the Indians dug the Maldives for different points. If such a situation occurs in Turkey and Azerbaijan, airlines will be commercially forced to reduce capacity due to lack of passengers.
According to Azerbaijan Council, Tourism was visited by Azerbaijan in 2014 only 4,853 Indians. The number in 2024 was 243 589. The Tourism Council from now to the next 10 years expects an increase of 11%. Turkey saw Indian arrivals of 3,30,000 passengers in 2024, while the number in 2014 was 119 503 according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Turkey.
There are about 13,000 seats between India and Turkey every week, while Azerbaijan and India have over 3,000 seats every week. There are many options for both countries.
Tail note
It is too early to see if it will be successful, but the last time the Clarion challenge was made on social media against the Maldives and the number of Indians visiting the Maldives has been significantly decreased. India – China Air Connectivity Restart has been in interviews for a long time, but has to start. Civil aviation and diplomacy are now more closely connected than ever with air and connectivity by the main tool in Geopolitics. But will it have the impact on the numbers, will airlines voluntarily suspend? In the past, they have never done it, and they don’t have to do so if it doesn’t have a commercial impact.
(Tagstotranslate) Turkey
