The Airbus SE A321 aircraft, run by Indigo, a unit of Interglobe Aviation Ltd., is preparing to land … more
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Indigo-India's biggest airline is a revenue-based carrier managed by billionaire Rahul Bhatia, which is stepping up its fleet expansion plans to meet booming travel demands at its domestic and international destinations.
To support the expansion plan, the budget carrier purchased another 30 A350 aircraft from Airbus and exercised the option of deploying a fleet of widebody aircraft on international routes, Bloomberg reported over the weekend. This is on top of the 30 A350 planes ordered last year, as well as six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner scheduled for delivery next year.
The company is aiming to expand its fleet by 50% to more than 600 aircraft by 2030, Indigo said in a statement released last week.
“We are focusing on overall growth so that we can provide our customers with affordable, convenient, on-time travel experiences with a growing network of national and international routes,” Peter Elbers, CEO of Indigo, said in a statement.
Indigo is set to launch service on 10 new international routes this year, expanding its network to more than 50 destinations. Direct flights from Mumbai to Manchester and Amsterdam will begin next month. Indigo will also add flights to Athens to Southeast Asian destinations such as Siem Lip, Bali, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, along with Central Asian cities Almati and Tashkent.
To help expand the fleet, Indigo has signed a contract with Bangalore International Airport to build a 12.5 hectares of maintenance and repair facilities. This will add to existing facilities in Delhi and Bengaluru. “Dedicated MRO facilities offer great benefits in terms of aircraft availability, greater cost-effectiveness and a quick turnaround that benefits the airline,” Indigo said.
Bhatia is India's wealthiest, as its estimated real-time net worth is $8.5 billion. He co-founded the airline in 2006 with fellow billionaire Rakesh Gangwal. After his dropout with Bhatia on how the airline operates, Gangwal resigned from the company's board of directors in 2022 and vowed to sell out Indigo stocks in five years. Last month, Gangwal reportedly sold 115.6 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) of stake for Indigo.
