Indigo plans to fly international
As the country's largest discount carrier, Indigo Airlines completes 5 years next August, the company has already applied for Aviation ministry's nod for international operations. While it is still good 18 months short of completing the mandatory 5 years for international routes, the company has applied for the international license as it will give ample time for the carrier to initiate talks with global airports and other parties.
Being run by InterGlobe Aviation, the company is interested in the routes to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), West Asia and China. With a whopping share of 14.9% in the domestic market, the company is aiming to add 10 more aircrafts to its fleet.
Notably, the no. of aircrafts is four more than the airline initially planned to add. Its arch rival in the low-cost space, Spicejet will also turn five this summer and the routes the carrier is interested in are Dhaka, Colombo, Kathmandu and Male. Indigo currently runs five aircrafts more than the mandatory 20 for the international routes and is operating around 170 flights in the 22 Indian major cities.