IndiGo to fly widebody planes for the first time

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India's largest airline IndiGo announced the operation of widebody planes for the first time ever, according to a news report.

The airline is wet leasing a few widebodies from an international carrier, which will have business and economy classes, the Business Standard reported.

A wet lease involves leasing both the plane and its crew from the lessor. Widebody aircraft like the B777 have a bigger fuel tank than narrow-body aircraft like the A320, which allows them to fly farther, according to the report.

Moneycontrol also reached out independently to Indigo's team to confirm the news development but the airline did not confirm the aircraft model yet.

"The aviation industry globally continues to face significant supply chain disruptions, we have been exploring a multitude of solutions to enable us to continue our operations smoothly and to provide our customers with efficient and affordable travel. The airline, with 280 narrow-body aircraft which only have economy class arrangements, already has about 60 percent of the domestic market and is looking to expand internationally," an Indigo spokesperson told Moneycontrol.

"As an interim measure, we have decided to take on wet/ damp lease certain aircraft to cover the shortfall for our scheduled international operations. We have received an in-principle approval from the regulators for the same and the induction of these aircrafts remains subject to further requisite regulatory approvals. We are committed to exploring every opportunity possible to overcome these capacity challenges and provide our customers with efficient and affordable air travel," the airline added.

IndiGo on Tuesday announced it would start operating flights on the Mumbai-Istanbul route from January. It operates narrow-body aircraft on the Delhi-Istanbul route. Wet-leased widebody planes will likely be used mostly on India-Istanbul routes, sources told the publication.