India’s largest passenger airline is about to add 24 international destinations to its arsenal

• IndiGo Airlines plans to expand its operations to 24 international destinations within the next 18 months.
• Its current fleet of 163 aircraft essentially caters to domestic passengers - 42 domestic and 8 international flights.
• It plans to increase its aircraft fleet to 200 by the end of the current fiscal year.
  
  

IndiGo Airlines, India’s largest passenger airline with a market share of 39.5% as of March 2018, is planning to soar higher and wider by expanding its operations to 24 international destinations within the next 18 months.

According to Economic Times, the company plans to include 18 short haul destinations in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and China, and six long-haul flights to cities in France, Germany, Belgium, the UK and Switzerland. For this, the airline may purchase additional dual-aisle aircraft.

Its current fleet of 163 aircraft essentially caters to domestic passengers - 42 domestic and 8 international flights. However, it plans to increase its aircraft fleet to 200 by the end of the current fiscal year.

The airline is slated to commence flights to Afghanistan, France, Germany, Iran, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the UK between October 2018 and March 2019. And between March and October of 2019, it will offer flights to Belgium, Italy, Myanmar, Switzerland, Thailand, Vietnam and China. Currently, IndiGo flies to Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and United Arab Emirates (Dubai and Sharjah).

While IndiGo has not commented on this, a government official backed the claims. The move will apparently be part of its second phase of expansion.

In an interview with ET earlier this month, IndiGo co-founder Rahul Bhatia had said, “There are also plans to add medium and long-haul international flights and the details are still being worked out. At some point in the future, we may go in for wide-body aircraft for international long-haul flying, but nothing has been decided so far.”