CEO Pieter Elbers, BA

With internationalisation as a key focus area, IndiGo chief Pieter Elbers on Tuesday said the airline has a great opportunity to address the long haul flight services market from India. IndiGo, which has more than 400 planes in its fleet, is taking wide-body Boeing 787 aircraft on damp lease and is set to start services to Amsterdam and Manchester later this year.

“International air travel in India probably for quite a long time was very much taken care of by non-Indian airlines… there is a great opportunity to address that market (long haul) with our planes,” Elbers said.

Generally, long haul flights are those having a duration of more than nine hours. The airline expects to take delivery of long-range A321 XLR planes this year and wide-body A350 aircraft in 2027. Speaking at the Skift India Forum, he also said that its order book for aircraft is an “incredible asset”.

The airline has more than 900 planes on order. Elbers also asserted that the airline wants to have the cost leadership.

“Indian market is incredible, cost-competitive, price-sensitive, and consumer value-conscious market. Maintaining cost leadership is incredibly important for us,” he said.