Induction of the first A321Neo plane will give wings to IndiGo's international ambition, with the country's largest airline expected to add destinations in Asia and Europe to its network.
The airline's first A321Neo arrived in Delhi on December 29, making its maiden flight from the Hamburg facility of Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer. This is part of its 150-aircraft order.
Aww, Big birdie! Splendid sight of our A321 making its way through the water cannon salute. VT-IUA Welcome Home! #watercanonsalute #SmilestoneA321 #321IndiGo pic.twitter.com/iJ65hOcLg9— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) December 29, 2018
Promising to be 15 percent more fuel efficient than the A320 series, the new aircraft can also fly about 900 km more in a single flight. Its manufacturer also claims that the A321Neo will lead to 8 percent cut in operating costs and is also more environment friendly, as it is not as noisy as its precedent, and also emits lower nitrogen oxide.
The fuel efficiency and lower costs will interest the Rahul Bhatia-led airline the most. It is presently going through a financial crunch unseen before in the airline, having reported its first quarterly loss - in the second quarter of the present financial year - since getting listed on the bourses in 2015.
International push
Bhatia, who had talked about the new aircraft's induction in his interaction with Moneycontrol earlier this month, is also keen is using the planes to aggressively expand internationally.
IndiGo presently flies to 56 destinations, including 15 international ones.
"The A321Neo range is about 4000 nm (nautical miles), i.e 7400 km depending on aircraft configuration and is ideal for medium and long haul flights up to 8 hours," said Capt Shakti Lumba, aviation professional and former Executive Director, Airline Operations (Alliance Air) and Vice President, Ops (IndiGo).
Most of IndiGo's present international network consists of destinations in South Asia, the South-East and Middle-East. These include, Colombo, Dhaka, Singapore, Phuket, Dubai and Sharjah.
"Most Middle-East destinations are now possible on A320s," said an aviation executive, who added that IndiGo can now operate flights on Delhi-Istanbul-London route.
IndiGo had earlier this month announced a codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines, which flies to multiple destinations in Europe. A code share agreement allows passengers to benefit from the two airlines' network.
Reports had earlier talked about the airline wanting to also fly to France, Germany and Switzerland.
"At present, IndiGo has flights to Singapore from Mumbai. Now with A321Neo, it can fly to Singapore from Delhi too," added the executive.
It may take a few more months for IndiGo to deploy the new aircraft. Aviation experts say that the company will need anywhere between three to six months to get all the approvals and permits to fly to the international destinations.
"Now they can take forward their global long haul, low cost model on that aircraft," said an aviation consultant.
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