Europe ahoy: IndiGo to start London, Copenhagen & Athens flight by winter | India News
NEW DELHI: Indian globetrotters will soon have more airline options for their overseas trips. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers Friday said the airline will start flights to London, Copenhagen & Athens in Europe and Siem Reap in Cambodia by this winter. India’s largest airline is starting Europe flights with Amsterdam and Manchester on Norse Atlantic wet leased (hired with operating crew) Boeing 787s this July. This year, it will add 10 new international destinations to its network apart from introducing its business product Stretch on some international destinations — Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and Phuket — that are served by narrow body aircraft.“With one new aircraft joining the fleet every week for the next decade or so, IndiGo anticipates surpassing a fleet size of 600 aircraft by 2030. We received 58 Airbus aircraft last fiscal and crossed the $10 billion revenue mark apart from flying 11.8 crore passengers. Every three days, we fly 10 lakh passengers,” Elbers said here Friday as IndiGo is hosting the annual general meeting of International Air Transport Association (IATA).Air India has also placed an order for over 500 aircraft and is growing aggressively after Tatas took over the Maharaja in Jan 2022. “India is in a hurry and so is IndiGo,” he said referring to the growth of the airline. In fiscal 2015, it had 21 domestic destinations and now it is at 91 to which Hindon, Adampur, Navi Mumbai and Greater Noida will be added this year. In fiscal 2015, it had five international destinations and now it has 40 in which 10 more will be added in FY 26. “People ask us if we are a low cost carrier (LCC) or a full service one, we are neither. We have built our own model,” the CEO said.IndiGo has signed an agreement with Norse Atlantic Airways for a damp lease of six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, deliveries of which will be completed by early 2026. This fiscal it will get the long range Airbus A321XLR. The Dreamliners will be used for direct flights connecting Mumbai with Manchester and Amsterdam starting July 2025, and then flights from India to London and Copenhagen. Athens will be served by the A321XLR.“The airline will (add) four more Central Asian destinations being added… will re-activate services to Almaty and Tashkent with new non-stop services from Mumbai. Tbilisi will also see additional capacity with non-stop connectivity from Mumbai. Direct flights to Siem Reap will be IndiGo’s foray in the India – Cambodia market… after the launch of services to Langkawi, Penang and Krabi last year. The airline will also add capacity to Denpasar Bali (Indonesia) as well as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam,” Elbers said.IndiGo has two maintenance facilities with hangars Delhi and Bengaluru. On Friday, it signed an MoU with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) to build a maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) facility on 31 acres of land. This facility will be equipped to handle narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. “With more than 400 aircraft in fleet and over 900 on order, a dedicated MRO facility will give a significant advantage in terms of aircraft availability, greater cost efficiencies and quicker turnaround benefiting the airline. We are keeping planes longer now and that also makes a MRO necessary,” Elbers said.
