Fluctuations in airfares likely to continue, says IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers

Airfares in India shot up last month as the demand for travel increased and simultaneously half of Go First's fleet was grounded due to a disruption in the supply of Pratt & Whitney jet engines

IndiGo's CEO Pieter Elbers while speaking on the surge in airfares across India said that these fluctuations are likely to continue, according to an Economic Times (ET) report.

Elbers attributed these fluctuations to disruption in capacity caused by Go First's flights being suspended. However, he called it a temporary disruption in the capacity as well as in pricing and said the prices are stabilising now.

Airfares in India shot up last month as the demand for travel increased and simultaneously half of Go First's fleet was grounded due to a disruption in the supply of Pratt & Whitney (P&W) jet engines.

On May 3, the Centre allotted GoFirst's slots to other airlines. The GoFirst airlines accounted for around 7 per cent of the market share and had around 53 slots at Delhi and Mumbai airports.

Last week at a media briefing on the sidelines of the IATA World Air Transport Summit, Elbers said the airline expects to have around 350 planes in its fleet by the end of this fiscal (FY24).

IndiGo is India's largest airline with more than 300 aircrafts and more than 57 per cent domestic market share.

Earlier Elbers spoke on his company's ambition of expanding its International presence as the Indian economy grows.

“We will continue to increase internationalisation. While we may tweak our network a bit to fill up the vacuum in the domestic market, the plan to internationalise stays,” Elbers said.

At present, IndiGo flies to 78 domestic destinations and 26 International destinations with 75 international city pairs. The airline plans to increase its international seat share by 30 per cent in the next two years.