IndiGo Orders 30 Airbus A350-900 Jets

It’s official! After months of speculation, IndiGo has finally announced a widebody order and has gone for the popular Airbus A350 aircraft. The low-cost airline is also the largest carrier in India, with more than 60% of the domestic market share. But it has also been eyeing long-haul international routes by wet leasing widebody planes and entering codeshare agreements. The latest order will help it compete with Air India on longer international routes.

30 Airbus A350s ordered

IndiGo has announced a firm order for 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft, which will be powered by Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB engine. This is the latest in IndiGo’s association with Airbus, as the airline already has more than 300 A320 family of aircraft and hundreds more on order. Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, commented,

“Today’s historic moment marks a new chapter for IndiGo and will further shape the future of the airline and for Indian aviation at the same time. For IndiGo, after successfully pioneering the Indian skies with an unprecedented journey, its fleet of 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft will allow IndiGo to embark on its next phase of becoming one of the leading global aviation players. At IndiGo, we take pride in being India’s preferred airline and for offering connectivity to our customers, in and with India. This reaffirms IndiGo’s belief in, and commitment to, the growth of India, and in our strategic partnership with Airbus.”

The airline has not figured out the configuration of the aircraft yet, and this is something that will be decided at a later stage. The total order value is also unknown, but Reuters estimates that it could be more than $9 billion.

Deliveries are expected to start from 2027, and along with the firm order for 30 A350s, IndiGo has also included purchase rights for an additional 70 Airbus A350 family aircraft, at its discretion, for possible future needs under certain conditions.

Eyeing long-haul

IndiGo has made it clear that the new aircraft order is for its long-haul ambitions, saying that it wants to connect various Indian metros to the world. Rumors about a potential widebody order from IndiGo have been swirling for a while, and if one has been following IndiGo’s operations, the latest development won’t come as a surprise.

Photo: Airbus

IndiGo has wet-leased two Boeing 777s from Turkish Airlines and has also signed numerous codeshare deals to get its feet wet for long-haul operations. Although it has a firm grasp on India’s domestic market, the potential competition from a renewed Air India and its low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express, has caused the carrier to go beyond its traditional operational model.

It remains to be seen how IndiGo will design its long-haul international network, considering it operates as a budget carrier for Indian domestic and medium-haul flights.

Airbus loyalist

The latest announcement further consolidates IndiGo’s relationship with Airbus, as the carrier has almost 1,000 A320 family of aircraft on order, including the largest ever single aircraft order by any airline for 500 planes last year. For the latest order, Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, Airbus EVP Sales, Commercial Aircraft, commented,

“This is an exciting new chapter in our close partnership with IndiGo. The airline has revolutionised Indian domestic air travel with the A320neo Family by making flying more accessible to more people. With the A350 selection, Indigo is now embarking on further opening the world to India. We will support the airline to take this pioneering and strategic step. A big thank you to the IndiGo team for putting their trust in Airbus once again.”

Photo: kbp.spotter | Shutterstock

IndiGo has served more than 100 million passengers so far and enjoys several exclusive routes within India. The A350 will certainly help the carrier compete with the now-expanding Air India for longer routes. It’ll be interesting to observe how this competition develops once these A350s start joining IndiGo’s fleet.

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