As part of its strategy of internationalisation, India’s largest airline IndiGo will be launching flights to a total of 10 new overseas destinations in financial year 2025-26 (FY26), growing its international network by a fourth to 51 destinations from the current 41. IndiGo, which had already announced flights to Manchester and Amsterdam from early July, said Friday that it intends to launch services to London, Copenhagen, Athens, Siem Ream, and four Central Asian destinations that will be announced at a later date.
IndiGo will also restart services to Central Asia cities of Almaty and Tashkent, but instead of Delhi, they will be served from Mumbai. The carrier had suspended its Delhi-Almaty and Delhi-Tashkent services after Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian airlines and aircraft from April 24 as diplomatic relations between the two countries deteriorated in the wake of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. The airline had said that the circuitous route around Pakistan to reach these cities from Delhi was beyond the range of its narrow-body aircraft.
The carrier has not yet decided which Indian city or cities will the new overseas destinations will be connected with, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers told reporters. Given the Pakistani airspace closure, some industry insiders see Delhi, a key hub for IndiGo, not being conducive for westward international flights. Notably, IndiGo’s upcoming thrice weekly services to Manchester and Amsterdam—its first long-haul destinations—will be from Mumbai, and not Delhi.
Elbers, however, said that the damp leased wide-body aircraft IndiGo will be using for most of its European routes possess the range to operate to those destinations from various large Indian cities, including Delhi and Mumbai. On the question of Pakistani airspace closure’s impact on IndiGo’s network development strategy, Elbers said that all airlines are considering various possible scenarios given the situation and IndiGo is no different, adding that it was not known for how long these curbs are going to be in place.
Barring Athens, the destinations in Europe and the UK are expected to be operated using the Norse Atlantic aircraft that IndiGo is taking on damp lease. Flights to Athens will be operated using the Airbus A321 XLR aircraft that IndiGo expects to start inducting in the current financial year. Siem Ream and the new destinations in Cenral Asia are likely to be operated using IndiGo’s mainline fleet of Airbus A320 family jets.
Over the past few months, IndiGo signed agreements with Norse Atlantic Airways to damp lease a total of six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, one of which is already operating on its Delhi-Bangkok route. These aircraft will support IndiGo’s debut into the European market, starting with Manchester and Amsterdam, while the airline awaits the delivery of its A321XLR planes from this year and A350-900 aircraft from 2027 onwards.
As part of its “internationalisation strategy”, IndiGo plans to induct extra-long-range narrow-body Airbus A321 XLR aircraft and wide-body Airbus A350 planes to operate medium- and long-range international flights. The carrier evidently does not want to wait for these aircraft to further fuel its international expansion, and therefore decided to enter the long-haul market using damp-leased planes. The airline is understood to be in the market for more wide-body leasing opportunities.
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IndiGo sees significant potential in the international segment, given that Indian airlines account for 45 per cent of India’s international air passenger traffic, while overseas carriers account for around 55 per cent, Elbers said. In the case of India-Europe passenger traffic, overseas carriers have an even higher share of around 70 per cent.
The airline is also making adjustments to its product offering as it forays into the long-haul operations. In a first for IndiGo, the carrier will offer complimentary hot meals to all flyers on long-haul flights to Europe and the UK, which is a departure from its model of paid meals. As the airline’s regular fleet of narrow-body aircraft does not have ovens on board, it serves only cold meals and instant meals prepared with hot water. It is also offering its business class product on these routes
After dominating the Indian skies with a market share of over 60 per cent, IndiGo has been focusing on internationalisation, which entails a rapid expansion of its international network—including foraying into the long-haul segment—given the robust overseas travel demand from India. Over the past two to three years, IndiGo has expanded its international network by adding destinations in regions including Central Asia and the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, and Africa using its narrow-body fleet. Europe, where Air India is the only Indian carrier that operates direct flights, was expected to be the next frontier for IndiGo.
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