India’s IndiGo Orders 60 Airbus A350s To Fuel Long Haul Ambitions

It’s an exciting time for aviation in India. A little over a year ago, India’s largest airline ordered wide body jets for the first time. The airline has now doubled its firm order, before even taking delivery of the first jet.

IndiGo will fly the Airbus A350 as of 2027

IndiGo now has a firm order for 60 Airbus A350-900s, in addition to options for an additional 40 of these jets, meaning the airline would eventually fly 100 of Airbus’ flagship wide body aircraft. IndiGo placed the firm order for 30 A350s in April 2024, so the development is that the firm order has just been doubled, from 30 to 60 jets.

The airline expects to take delivery of its first A350s as of 2027, so we’re still a couple of years off from these planes joining IndiGo’s fleet. I find it noteworthy that the airline has exclusively ordered the smaller A350-900 variant, rather than the larger A350-1000 variant, given that the latter has even better unit costs, and Indian airlines don’t exactly struggle to fill seats.

For context, IndiGo is an Indian low cost carrier that was founded in 2006 and is now run by Pieter Elbers, the former CEO of KLM. IndiGo is India’s largest airline in terms of the number of passengers carried.

The airline currently has a fleet of over 400 aircraft, comprised primarily of Airbus A320-family jets. The pace at which IndiGo is growing is almost unheard of. For example, in 2023, IndiGo placed an order for 500 Airbus A320neo family aircraft, the largest single aircraft order in history. The airline has nearly 1,000 aircraft on order.

While IndiGo primarily operates domestic flights, the airline also has an international route network, with select destinations in Africa and Asia. While these A350s are the first wide body aircraft that IndiGo has ordered, the airline has previously ordered the A321XLR, which is Airbus’ new narrow body, long range aircraft.

IndiGo has sort of been dabbling with wide body aircraft for some time. In 2023, the airline started operating a couple of Boeing 777s in partnership with Turkish Airlines, flying primarily between Delhi and Istanbul. Now the airline is wet leasing Boeing 787s from Norse Atlantic, so that it can start to operate some long haul flights.

How will IndiGo’s business model evolve with the A350?

It’s fascinating to see how IndiGo’s business model has evolved over time. Historically, IndiGo has been a low cost carrier, and it goes without saying that the economics of being a low cost carrier are very different on short haul domestic flights than they are on long haul international flights, especially given the competitive landscape.

However, IndiGo has been making changes, slowly but surely. The airline has introduced its IndiGo Stretch product on select Airbus A321neos, which is essentially a regional business class product. IndiGo has also now announced plans to partner with Delta, Air France-KLM, and Virgin Atlantic.

As IndiGo continues to grow and expand, it sure sounds like the airline will become increasingly full service, given that this is where money is to be made on long haul flights. Presumably IndiGo will be going head-to-head against Air India in many international markets, with the wide body aircraft being used for flights to Europe, the United States, etc.

It’s an incredibly exciting time for aviation in India. We’re seeing Air India undergo a full transformation, and now IndiGo is evolving significantly as well. What’s certain is that there’s no shortage of demand for travel to and from India, so there’s room for multiple Indian airlines to succeed.

If anything, these updates are about Indian airlines reclaiming market share from Gulf carriers, rather than anything else. For so many years, Gulf carriers have essentially been the de facto national carriers of India, and that’s slowly changing. I can’t help but wonder if a decade or two down the road, this could also lead to changes in the business model at Gulf airlines.

Bottom line

IndiGo now has a firm order for 60 Airbus A350-900, in addition to 40 options. These planes will start to join the carrier’s fleet as of 2027.

It’s fascinating to see IndiGo’s evolution. The airline has historically been an all-economy low cost carrier, and it’s increasingly becoming premium, and partnering with global, full service airlines. IndiGo is already starting to dabble with long haul flying, thanks to Norse Atlantic 787 leases, but things will really start to get exciting in 2027.

What do you make of IndiGo’s Airbus A350 order, and the carrier’s evolving partnerships?