IndiGo to connect existing international points to more Indian cities, increasing frequency

Plans to build a state-of-the-art hangar in Delhi

SUDIPTA DEV - Mumbai

Aditya Ghosh

IndiGo has plans to connect more Indian cities with the international destinations it is currently flying to and also increase frequency on the existing routes. “This is our plan for the next seven-eight months. For example, Delhi-Dubai/Mumbai-Dubai we plan to have two or three flights a day and Muscat seven flights a week from the existing four,” said Aditya Ghosh, president, IndiGo during the inaugural flight from Mumbai to Muscat on October 10, 2011. IndiGo also plans to connect Muscat with Mangalore and Thiruvanathapuram in the future and Dubai to Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvanathapuram and Kolkata. Singapore that is presently connected to Mumbai and Delhi, would also be connected to Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. And similarly, besides the just launched Delhi-Kathmandu flight, Nepal's capital will also be connected to Kolkata.

“The bilaterals are there - India does not have a paucity of routes. We have applied for the rights, some of them have been approved while the others are pending,” stated Ghosh. He also revealed that the airline is very seriously looking at building a hangar of its own in New Delhi. The airline has been allocated just short of five acres of land for the purpose. “We want to build a state-of-the-art hangar, it will be in our control and ensure a safer environment,” stated Ghosh.

All the international destinations will be short haul - in the five/ and a half hours range, which is the A320 range. “On one side we can go up to Dammam and on the other Kuala Lumpur. We do not have any plans for Kuala Lumpur though, but are looking at Jeddah and Dhaka in this winter schedule, that is Mumbai to Jeddah and Kolkata to Dhaka,” said Ghosh. He pointed out that the one key differentiator between IndiGo and any foreign carrier is that the latter only get to the gateway points in India, while IndiGo can fly from Jaipur to Dubai or Lucknow to Dubai.

The airline will get 230 aircraft in the next 14 years. “It's our way of saying that we have a long-term future. The aircraft that's going to arrive in 2025 will be in our fleet till 2035. We have an average of one aircraft coming in every month for the next 14 years,” mentioned Ghosh. With the Neos coming in from 2015, there will be an extra 300 nautical miles of range and almost 12-15 per cent less fuel burns.

“The youngest airline in the country, IndiGo is the fastest growing low cost carrier in the world. But that's not because we did something phenominally brilliant but because we are in the right country. That is why we have ordered another 180 aircrafts,” asserted Ghosh.