IndiGo, the country’s largest carrier, is looking to expand internationally with flights to Nairobi, Jakarta, and some central Asian destinations. The airline’s CEO Pieter Elbers told news agency PIT that "IndiGo is back with a bang.” He said that the economic growth of India is helping IndiGo move forward and the network of IndiGo is further helping boost economic growth locally.
This comes against the backdrop of massive plane orders by Air India to revamp its fleet. IndiGO’s CEO said, “There is a lot going on in the Indian aviation landscape... The fact that Indian aviation is getting into the next stage, including the consolidation being done under the Air India group, is a natural evolution of the market…I look to the competition. It is good to have competition but it will be a competition that is going hand-in-hand with the growth of the market.”
Pieter Elbers added, “We will likely introduce new flights to Nairobi (Kenya) and Jakarta (Indonesia) in this coming summer. We are looking at central Asia at a few destinations but that has not yet been decided... Internationalisation is a big part of our agenda.”
As of now, IndiGo has more than 300 planes in its fleet and currently operates at 76 domestic and 26 international destinations. Two more domestic destinations, Nashik and Dharamshala, have also been announced.
Elbers noted that Nairobi and Jakarta are two important points to connect with tourism, business, and the Indian diaspora.
"With further growth of India and the position of India combined with our capability even more so when XLRs are coming in, we are very ambitious of creating more international connectivity. A significant part of (international travel by Indians) today is taken by international carriers. For us as Indian carriers we can have a higher share," the IndiGo chief said.
IndiGo reported a surge in profit at Rs 1,422.6 crore and its highest-ever quarterly total income at Rs 15,410.2 crore for the quarter ending on December 31, 2022, as travel demand remained strong. The airline had 2.23 crore passengers in the December quarter and its domestic market share in 2022 stood at 56.1 per cent.
On February 1, IndiGo began flying the B777 on the Delhi-Istanbul route under a wet lease with Turkish Airlines. The aircraft can accommodate 400 passengers in its business and economy classes. The IndiGo chief said that starting operations with the wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft was the first step born out of the need for capacity.
"The market is growing and we were confronted with the supply chain situation, we really needed capacity. The flight has been there for two weeks and we see a very positive response from the market. Code shares placed beyond Istanbul are working very well," he said.
On the plans for wide-body planes, Elbers said it has always kept the option of wide-body aircraft open.
"IndiGo has never ruled out any option. We do have a significant order book. We have almost 500 aircraft on order... we have a steady stream of deliveries coming. Our focus and emphasis will be on that part. We do have the XLRs order that will further stretch the range of operations for IndiGo," he said.
The airline has made an order with Airbus for A321XLR aircraft, which will have a longer range, and these aircraft are anticipated in 2024–2025, the report said.
(With Inputs From PTI)