IndiGo should not be branded as a low-cost carrier: CEO Pieter Elbers

IndiGo is a “unique” airline and should not be branded as a low-cost carrier (LCC) as it has already taken several measures that a typical LCC would never take, said its Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers on Wednesday.

“Is IndiGo a traditional LCC? We fly 20 daily flights between Delhi and Mumbai. Is that what a traditional LCC does? We have a co-branded credit card. We have 8 codeshare partners and the day before yesterday, we signed a codeshare partnership with Japan Airlines. Is that what a traditional LCC does?” he asked at CAPA India Aviation Summit 2024.

A codeshare partnership between two carriers allows each airline to sell seats on the other’s flights.

IndiGo has codeshare partnerships with nine airlines including Turkish Airline, Qatar Airways, American Airlines, Air France-KLM and Qantas Airline.

Elbers said, “I think we have left the station of a typical LCC, if there is such a thing, already. Looking at India and IndiGo, I don't think we need to be labelled one way or the other. India is a unique country and market. IndiGo is a unique airline and we develop in a way that it should be developed.”

“Therefore, all the things that you are seeing coming now, A321XLR coming in, widebody aircraft coming in, are all part of the same strategy,” he added.

A321XLR has a longer range than a typical narrowbody plane like A320neo and B737.

Widebody planes have a bigger fuel tank that allows them to operate flights on long-haul routes such as India-US and India-Europe.

IndiGo, India's largest carrier, recently announced that it would be introducing business class on its aircraft. Currently, it operates only economy class seats on all its 370-odd planes.

IndiGo, after placing the world’s largest aircraft order for 500 A320neo family planes in June last year and another order for 30 A350 wide-body planes in April this year, is reportedly in talks with ATR for another 100 planes for its burgeoning regional operations.