IndiGo, India's biggest airline, pushes for global expansion
Last September, Pieter Elbers became CE of India's largest airline, IndiGo, and quickly discovered what it is like to be overlooked. A budget carrier specializing in domestic routes, IndiGo flew more than twice as many passengers last year as AirAsia, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines or All Nippon Airways. But few people outside its home country had heard about it. "In my observation, IndiGo is such a great and well-respected brand in India," Elbers told Nikkei Asia. "But outside India, [the perception of the airline] is neither positive nor negative. It's just unknown." Elbers is hoping to change that. The 52-year-old -- who joined IndiGo after serving for nearly eight years as CE of Dutch carrier KLM -- is making international expansion a top priority, setting the stage for more intense competition with regional rivals including India's second-biggest carrier, Tata Group's Air India. IndiGo currently flies Airbus aircraft to 26 international destinations and reaches 30 European cities under a code-share agreement with Turkish Airlines that enables either carrier to sell seats on its partner's planes. Elbers said IndiGo will soon start flying to Nairobi and Jakarta, and is in talks to ink a code-share agreement to expand to the U.S. It is awaiting delivery of A321XLR aircraft from Airbus, which can fly longer distances and will help IndiGo expand further into Europe, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. "Our position in international is still, I would say, modest, but internationalization is going to be a very important part of our road map going forward," Elbers said. At the same time, Elbers pledged that IndiGo will "develop the domestic network, which remains the core of the company," with a goal of "serving every city which has an airport of some size." The airline, which currently flies to 78 cities in India, carried 69m passengers within the country in 2022. Its domestic market share topped 55% in February, according to India's civil aviation regulator, twice that of Air India, its closest domestic competitor. IndiGo flew 7.42m international passengers last year, while Air India carried 10.67m.<br/>
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IndiGo, India's biggest airline, pushes for global expansion
Last September, Pieter Elbers became CE of India's largest airline, IndiGo, and quickly discovered what it is like to be overlooked. A budget carrier specializing in domestic routes, IndiGo flew more than twice as many passengers last year as AirAsia, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines or All Nippon Airways. But few people outside its home country had heard about it. "In my observation, IndiGo is such a great and well-respected brand in India," Elbers told Nikkei Asia. "But outside India, [the perception of the airline] is neither positive nor negative. It's just unknown." Elbers is hoping to change that. The 52-year-old -- who joined IndiGo after serving for nearly eight years as CE of Dutch carrier KLM -- is making international expansion a top priority, setting the stage for more intense competition with regional rivals including India's second-biggest carrier, Tata Group's Air India. IndiGo currently flies Airbus aircraft to 26 international destinations and reaches 30 European cities under a code-share agreement with Turkish Airlines that enables either carrier to sell seats on its partner's planes. Elbers said IndiGo will soon start flying to Nairobi and Jakarta, and is in talks to ink a code-share agreement to expand to the U.S. It is awaiting delivery of A321XLR aircraft from Airbus, which can fly longer distances and will help IndiGo expand further into Europe, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. "Our position in international is still, I would say, modest, but internationalization is going to be a very important part of our road map going forward," Elbers said. At the same time, Elbers pledged that IndiGo will "develop the domestic network, which remains the core of the company," with a goal of "serving every city which has an airport of some size." The airline, which currently flies to 78 cities in India, carried 69m passengers within the country in 2022. Its domestic market share topped 55% in February, according to India's civil aviation regulator, twice that of Air India, its closest domestic competitor. IndiGo flew 7.42m international passengers last year, while Air India carried 10.67m.<br/>
