Indigo has confirmed an order for 500 Airbus A230 planes. Indigo is the largest airline in India by market share. With the new order, Indigo becomes the airline with biggest fleet of A320 aircraft. Indigo already has a pending order with Airbus and with the current order, the total number has reached 1,330 airplanes. However, the fleet will be operational in a few years. TopNews reported earlier about the order but it was confirmed by Airbus or Indigo.

Announcing the deal with Airbus, Indigo tweeted, “Today we have set another truly momentous and very exciting step in the journey of IndiGo as we placed a firm order for 500 Airbus of the A320 Family. This is the largest-ever single aircraft purchase by any airline with Airbus.” Earlier, Air India placed a big order with Airbus for narrow body aircraft.

The agreement was signed at Paris Air Show by Indigo’s Promoter & MD Rahul Bhatia, Dr. Venkataramani Sumantran, Chairman and Non-Executive Independent Director of IndiGo, Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO, and Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International. This order marks another historical milestone for Indian aviation sector. The potential is immense for domestic air travel in India. Indian government has been investing heavily in improving infrastructure at many small airports across the country. Many airports have been upgraded and some of them have been develop under public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Indigo CEO Pieter Elbers said that with the new order Indigo will enable better connectivity among Indian cities and offer better options for Indian passengers. Indigo is also planning to increase its international routes. The airline is having codeshare flights with many airlines including American Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and KLM.

Indigo management has been proactive and has taken steps to improve efficiency while keeping prices lower for passengers. Many low-cost airlines have gone bust in India but Indigo has managed to keep its margins while offering exceptional services to consumers. The airline has grown its market share while offering on-time services.

Indigo faces tough competition from Air India which is undergoing major transformation after the management has changed hands. Air India also placed an impressive order with Airbus recently. Indian aviation sector is expected to grow fast and looking at the orders from two Indian airlines, it is easy to guess that good times are coming for Indian aviation and passengers.