DECODING INDIGO'S FLIGHT PLAN

India's largest airline wants to be measured against global carriers, butit might want to keep an eye on AirIndia

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA

At a conference organised by the All India Management Association in New Delhi last month, Pieter Elbers, CEO of  IndiGo, said his airline should be measured against global carriers, not its domestic peers.

IndiGo is India's largest airline, lording over 60 per cent of the domestic market. Its nearest rival is not even half its size even if you combine the market shares of the four airlines in the Tata fold: Air India, Air India Express, Vistara, and AirAsia.

But it is unlikely that Elbers was showing off his market muscle at the conference. He was making the point that Indian air carriers need to let their ambitions soar so that Indian airports could become global hubs. The aviation script, he said, should move away from the competition "between Mumbai to Guwahati" to why the majority of the flights between India and Europe were not run by Indian carriers.

This is precisely why Elbers, who was CEO of Dutch airline KLM for more than eight years, was handpicked by IndiGo's promoter, Rahul Bhatia: To expand IndiGo's thinking, horizon, and ambition. He is putting together a global plan centred on the total available seat kilometres, or ASKM, which is the number of seats multiplied by the distance travelled in kilometres. The intent is to increase IndiGo's ASKM for international flights from 24-25 per cent to 30 per cent in two years.

Giving wing to this ambition will be the induction of 49 latest Airbus A321XLR narrow-bodied aircraft, which can fly medium- and long-haul distances of seven to 7.5 hours. This fleet will be inducted in phases, starting 2024, though some say this might get delayed till 2025.

Deeper, wider, lucrative