IndiGo tripled in size during past seven years, retired old planes

The airline's highest capacity addition till date happened in FY19 and FY20, a period that also saw Jet Airways closing down in April 2019

IndiGo, which aims to double in size by 2030, expanded its fleet from a little over 100 aircraft in 2016 to more than 300 now, according to data compiled from its investor presentations.
 

The airline — which had 106 aircraft as of March 2016 — added 58 and 45 aircraft in FY19 and FY20, respectively, alone.
 

This period witnessed the closure of Jet Airways’ services (April 2019), resulting in faster growth for IndiGo. A year later, however, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the aviation industry.
 

In FY22, IndiGo’s size shrunk as it restructured its fleet, returning more of its older Airbus A320Ceo planes in a bid to drive lower maintenance and fuel expenses. 
 

As of March 2022, its fleet stood at 275, against 285 a year earlier. As of March 2023, IndiGo’s aircraft count was 304; it currently has 312 planes.
 

Nearly doubling the fleet size to 600 aircraft in seven years would mean IndiGo making a net addition of over 40 aircraft each year. This would also require the airline to enhance its engineering and operational capabilities.
 

IndiGo’s Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers said the latest aircraft order of 500 aircraft to Airbus would help the airline secure its future and give it a planning horizon of 10 years.
 

“One should never confuse short-term challenges with long-term opportunities,” said Elbers, referring to the large young population of India that aspires to a career in aviation. “We have a good (pilot) cadet programme. We are also proud to have the largest percentage of female pilots in the world. By placing this order, we can precisely start planning our pilot needs going forward,” he said on Monday.
 

The airline, he said, was also developing in-house aircraft maintenance capabilities after opening a second aircraft hangar in Bengaluru last year. “We will speak with Airbus about how to precisely organise (maintenance of a large number of planes)… We have the benefit of time. We are not rushing into something. We continue to build,” Elbers added.