IndiGo has taken delivery of three A320neo family planes on 23 June. Out of the three brand new aircraft, two are A320neos (their registrations being VT-IJN & VT-ISA) & 1 aircraft an A321neo (registered VT-IUO).
Two IndiGo Airbus A321neo aircraft and a Middle Eastern Airlines A321neo sitting at Airbus' Hamburg facility.
IndiGo’s decision to expand aggressively has come at a time when global travel demand has been hit significantly due to COVID-19 related restrictions in countries across the globe. With many airlines keen on delaying or cancelling their existing orders, IndiGo has decided to take a different approach to sustain this pandemic; IndiGo plans to replace all its old A320ceo with more fuel efficient A320neos or A321neos. IndiGo also took delivery of 2 brand new A321neo aircraft in early June 2020.
IndiGo is India’s largest passenger airline with a market share of 48.9% as of March 2020. It has a fleet of 265 aircraft and it operates both domestic and international destinations from India. IndiGo plans to return all 120 A320ceo aircraft to lessors within the next two years as these A320ceos have high maintenance costs and higher fuel burn than the A320neos. As of March 31, 2020 IndiGo had a total of 262 planes in its fleet.
Chief Executive Officer Rono Dutta said: "We have lots of new planes coming. The terms of new planes are for discussion the old planes, we have obligations and we are meeting them. We are returning 120 old planes, getting 120 or so new planes coming over 2 years. Those are under discussion.”
IndiGo plans to operate 70% of its pre-COVID flight schedule by the end of 2020, IndiGo used to operate 1500 daily flights before COVID-19 pandemic. To help it survive this pandemic, the airline has already put salary cuts in place, ranging from 5%-25% for its employees. It has also started to lease out it’s aircraft and its engines in order to raise funds. IndiGo says it could raise Rs3000- Rs5000 crore by doing so.
"We own some aircraft, some ATRs, a lot of engines, some A320s. We are putting them back on lease. That will give us Rs 3,000-5000 crore of funding. I am quite optimistic about prospects of IndiGo," the CEO said.
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