IndiGo expansion plans: Will add a new aircraft per week for next few years, says CEO Pieter Elbers

Riding high on five straight quarters of record profit, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said that the airline is planning to introduce a new aircraft per week in a bid to expand its domestic and international routes. The airline placed a record-breaking order of 500 aircraft with Airbus at the Paris Air Show in 2023. IndiGo currently operates 176 A320neo as part of its fleet of 334 aircraft. It noted that it has mid-70 aircraft grounded at the moment up from mid-40 aircraft grounded at the start of October 2023.

Earlier this week, InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, saw its profit after tax more than doubling to Rs 2,998.1 crore in the December quarter from Rs 1,422.6 crore in the year-ago period.

In an interview with CNBC TV18, Elbers said there are close to 1,000 pending deliveries. Elbers said: "We have a projection for planes to be delivered well into the next decade. We expect to have deliveries of one plane every week. For many years to come, every week, Indigo will receive a new plane. This says a lot about the potential of growth, going hand in hand with the growth of India itself."

The airline is planning network expansions going XLR aircraft which are set to be delivered in due course. At present, the airline is flying to 118 destinations with over 500 routes. Elbers said: "We are targeting to continue to build our network from the current 86 domestic and 32 international destinations. We're connecting cities like Ahmedabad to various international destinations like Singapore and the Middle East."

During an earnings call, IndiGo CFO Gaurav M. Negi said the current number of aircraft on the ground is in the mid-70s, which is a slight improvement from our earlier estimate.

“We hope the situation will start to improve in a few quarters from now,” he said and stressed that mitigation measures taken have helped in managing the situation.

IndiGo currently operates 176 A320neo as part of its fleet of 334 aircraft and currently has over 40 aircraft grounded due to P&W engine issues. The airline had a fleet of 358 aircraft, including 31 A320 ceos (11 damp lease), 184 A320 neos, 94 A321 neos, 44 ATRs, 3 A321 freighters and 2 B777s at the end of December 2023.