IndiGo

IndiGo is a low-cost airline based in Gurgaon, Haryana, run by the listed company InterGlobe Aviation. In recent years it has held more than 60% of India's domestic market. Its model is the classic one: a single main aircraft family, high daily use of each aircraft and short turnarounds, with meals, seat choice and extra bags sold as add-ons. It has also moved, carefully, into areas that low-cost carriers traditionally avoid, including a business-class product on some routes and wide-body long-haul flying.

Origins and growth

The airline was set up in 2005 by Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises and Rakesh Gangwal. In June 2005 it placed a firm order for 100 Airbus A320s, took its first aircraft on 28 July 2006 and flew its first service on 4 August 2006, from New Delhi to Imphal via Guwahati. After five years of domestic flying it was permitted to fly abroad in January 2011 and launched New Delhi–Dubai on 1 September 2011. It passed Jet Airways in domestic market share on 17 August 2012, and the parent company floated in October 2015.

Growth was underpinned by a series of very large Airbus orders: 180 A320s in 2011, 250 A320neos in 2015, 300 A320neo-family aircraft in 2019 and 500 more in June 2023. The airline added ATR 72-600 turboprops from November 2017 to reach smaller Indian cities.

Network and fleet

IndiGo's main hub is Delhi, with further bases at Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Kochi. Its own website describes a network of 140 destinations, more than 40 of them international. It codeshares with several foreign carriers, and its cargo arm, IndiGo CarGo, operates a small freighter fleet.

IndiGo's results for the quarter to 30 June 2026 gave a fleet of 432 aircraft. Most are Airbus A320neo-family jets, with the A321neo (176) now outnumbering the A320neo (174); the rest are older A320ceos, 44 ATR 72s, the first A321XLRs, three A321 freighters and six Boeing 787s damp-leased from Norse Atlantic, which began flying for IndiGo on 1 March 2025. In April 2024 the airline ordered Airbus A350-900s, with deliveries expected to start in 2027. A report in August 2026 said it was in early talks with Embraer about E2 jets that could replace its ATRs; no order had been announced.

A difficult winter and a new chief executive

In early December 2025 IndiGo failed to adjust its crew rosters to new flight-duty time limits set by India's aviation regulator, the DGCA. Starting on 2 December, it cancelled close to 4,500 flights over ten days. Chief executive Pieter Elbers resigned on 10 March 2026 and managing director Rahul Bhatia took over on an interim basis. On 31 March 2026 the airline named Willie Walsh, then director general of IATA, as its next chief executive. Walsh took up the post on 3 August 2026, with Bhatia remaining managing director.

For travellers, IndiGo remains mostly an all-economy airline. The IndiGoStretch product, launched on selected flights from 14 November 2024, adds wider business-class seats with meals and seat selection included. On standard flights food is sold on board and there is no seat-back entertainment.