How IndiGo Is Expanding Its Wings

IndiGo remains India’s largest airline with a market share of 61.4 per cent. Crossing another milestone, the market valuation of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, reached INR 1 lakh crore mark. It is the first Indian airline to achieve this breakthrough. Recently, it has also announced plans to expand international connectivity with six new destinations and 174 new weekly flights. On June 26th, IndiGo announced Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, as the 27th international and 105th overall destination in the 6E network. The airline opened bookings for daily non-stop flights between Mumbai and Nairobi, Kenya’s largest city starting August 5, 2023.

Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo said, “We are absolutely excited to embark further on our ambitious international network expansion plans, in line with our commitment to giving wings to the Indian nation. As we steadfastly execute our strategy ‘Towards New Heights and Across New Frontiers’, we are poised to establish unparalleled connections between people and places. The addition of these exciting new destinations, new direct flight routes, enhanced flight frequencies, and strategic codeshare partnerships, will help us expand our footprint across four continents with Africa and Central Asia being penetrated for the first time. With this expansion in our network, we will now be directly touching 32 international destinations (up from 26), next to our 78 domestic destinations.”

IndiGo, a low-cost airline was set up by Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises and Rakesh Gangwal. So, what has helped the airline in maintaining the top spot? “IndiGo is very cost conscious– it is willing to pay a top dollar for needs and not a penny for wants. It has a well defined business plan and the airline is run by professionals and not micromanaged by the owners,”said Shakti Lumba, former vice president operations, IndiGo Airline.

In the Paris Air Show, IndiGo defining its long-term future, placed a firm order for 500 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. This will provide IndiGo a further steady stream of deliveries between 2030 and 2035. This 500 aircraft order is not only IndiGo’s largest order, but also the largest-ever single aircraft purchase by any airline with Airbus. The engine selection for this order will be done in due course and so will be the exact mix of A320 and A321 aircraft.

IndiGo operates over 300 aircraft and has previous orders totaling 480 aircraft which are yet to be delivered between today and the end of this decade. With this additional firm order of 500 aircraft for 2030-2035, IndiGo’s order-book has almost 1.000 aircraft yet to be delivered well into the next decade. With this new order, since its inception in 2006, IndiGo has ordered a total of 1.330 aircraft with Airbus.

The fuel-efficient A320NEO Family aircraft will allow IndiGo to maintain its strong focus on lowering operating costs and delivering fuel efficiency with high standards of reliability. The young and fuel efficient fleet will help IndiGo realize its sustainability ambitions, building on the already realized CO2 reduction of 21 per cent between FY16 and FY23.

“It is difficult to overstate the significance of IndiGo’s new historic order for 500 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. An order book now of almost 1.000 aircraft well into the next decade, enables IndiGo to fulfill its mission to continue to boost economic growth, social cohesion and mobility in India. At IndiGo, we take pride in being India’s preferred airline for connectivity in and with India; and by doing so, being one of the leading airlines in the world. This order strongly reaffirms IndiGo’s belief in the growth of India, in the A320 Family and in our strategic partnership with Airbus,” said Elbers.