IndiGo bullish on international flights, to double in size by 2030, says CEO Elbers
Indigo’s international plans: IndiGo is bullish on launch of international flight connections, while the airline is aiming to double in size by 2030, the Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers has said.
Amid the airline pursuing soaring global ambitions to match India’s economic growth potential, IndiGo has plans to launch several new domestic and international routes as well as destinations.
Holding over 60 per cent domestic market share, IndiGo which is the country’s largest airline is also betting big on A321 XLR aircraft that are expected to be part of its fleet in 2025, which will further expand its overseas presence.
Having a consolidation plan in place, while also expanding its position on the global scale, Elbers said that the next major big jump for IndiGo will be to double its size by the end of the decade. In terms of the next financial year starting April 2024, the IndiGo CEO said the capacity guidance in terms of seat capacity is “early double digits” and one plane is coming in every week.
Engine issues
Responding to a query on supply chain issues caused by problems in Pratt & Whitney engines, Elbers also underlined that the airline is taking a lot of mitigating measures that are bearing fruits, and that the Aircraft on Ground (AOG) situation is “stable”. In February, the airline said the number of AOGs was in the mid-70s.
The 17-year-old carrier operates to 88 domestic and 33 international destinations at present. IndiGo has a fleet of more than 360 planes. “An airline with double of today’s size, global reach and footprint by the year 2030. That is the ambitious target…,” Elbers said and added that more codeshare partnerships can be expected.
At present, IndiGo has codeshares with Turkish Airways, British Airways, Qatar Airways, American Airline, KLM-AirFrance, Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin Atlantic.
The codesharing ensures that an airline books its passengers on its partner carriers and provides seamless travel to various destinations.
“In terms of the way forward, we will be seeing a number of new international destinations. We will have some domestic but more international… I would say. Especially, the opportunity to have more international routes, not per se destinations only,” he said and cited the example of services to Singapore that have been increased.
“We should compare IndiGo to the global aviation landscape. India should and will have airlines matching the ambition of the country itself. So, 100 million was our target to be part of the top ten airlines in the world and today, we are the seventh largest in terms of daily departures…,” Elbers said.
India as aviation hub
According to Elbers, IndiGo has firm intentions to play a strong role to ensure that India has a strong aviation ecosystem. “If home is the world’s most populous nation and home is soon going to be the third largest economy in the world, India should have an aviation ecosystem that is matching the size, potential and ambition of the country. IndiGo is determined to play a very strong role in that,” he noted.
After being hit by the COVID-19, IndiGo has got its financials back on track and has remained profitable in the last five quarters, also turning networth positive in the 2023 December quarter.
“Where do we stand today? We have actually created the groundwork for what may be called the next big mission of IndiGo. That is to double in size towards the end of the decade. You can only have that ambition if your foundations are correct.
“The foundations are important from a financial perspective, customer perspective, network perspective as also the big fleet order which we made in June last year. That gives us long-term visibility well into the next decade,” the IndiGo chief said.
(With PTI inputs)
