IndiGo to fly leased Boeing 787 aircraft on Delhi-Bangkok route from March, flights to Europe from mid-summer | Business News

IndiGo’s tailor-made business class product—IndiGoStretch—which is currently available only on select domestic flights, will also be available on the damp-leased Boeing 787-9 as the plane already has a premium class cabin in addition to economy class seating.

Notably, while the Boeing 787-9 can operate long-haul intercontinental flights, IndiGo has chosen Bangkok—a destination that can easily be served using narrow-body planes—for the initial run of the damp-leased jet. According to industry watchers, as a high-demand, busy, and familiar route, Delhi-Bangkok may be a good choice as an initial wide-body route for the airline as it plans, builds, and stabilises its medium- and long-haul network to Europe and other geographies using wide-body aircraft in the coming months and years.

After dominating the Indian skies with a market share of over 60 per cent, IndiGo has been making concerted efforts as part of its strategy of “internationalisation”, which entails a rapid expansion of its international network given the robust overseas travel demand from India. Over the past two to three years, IndiGo has expanded its international network by adding destinations in regions including Central Asia and the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Europe, where Air India is the only Indian carrier that operates, was expected to be the next frontier for IndiGo.

As part of its internationalisation strategy, IndiGo also plans to induct extra-long-range narrowbody Airbus A321 XLR aircraft and even wide-body Airbus A350 planes to operate medium- and long-range international flights. While IndiGo will start receiving the A321 XLRs from 2025-26 and the A350s from 2027, the airline evidently does not want to wait for them to fuel its international expansion. Therefore, it took a Boeing 787-9 on a damp lease from Norse Atlantic, and is in the market for more wide-body aircraft under such arrangements.

IndiGo’s move to have a wide-body fleet of its own marked a significant departure from the classic and proven budget airline model that focusses on single-type narrow-body fleet and domestic and short-haul international routes. The low-cost long-haul model, on the other hand, has seen far more failures than successes globally. IndiGo currently operates a fleet of narrow-body jet and turboprop aircraft, except for two wide-body Boeing 777 planes on lease from Turkish Airlines specifically for flights between India and Turkey.

Over the past few years, IndiGo has been pushing its international network expansion to the extent it can with its narrow-body fleet. But instead of entering high-competition and busy routes, the airline has focussed on identifying under-served routes and those with latent demand, while also stimulating demand on certain others.

“The wide body aircraft boasts a spacious double-aisle design, featuring 56 IndiGoStretch seats in a comfortable 2x3x2 configuration, with an impressive 43-inch seat pitch. The economy class offers 282 seats in a 3x3x3 configuration, providing a generous 31-inch seat pitch for a relaxed travel experience,” the airline said on availability of its business class as well as economy class seats on its deamp-leased Boeing 787-9 jet.