IndiGo announces its longest flight yet, to offer complimentary meals and beverages

Mint

21-05-2025

IndiGo, the largest airline in India, has opened for sale its flights to Manchester and Amsterdam. The airline has been on a different trajectory on the other side of the pandemic, leaving the low-cost carrier mode long back. With a dual class on offer and a widebody order in place, and the intermediate induction of 787-9 Dreamliner from Norse Atlantic on lease, IndiGo is leap-frogging on the international side to take on Air India. IndiGo has been selling tickets to both Manchester and Amsterdam from Delhi via Istanbul on its codeshare partner Turkish Airlines. Manchester is one of the top unserved routes out of India, while Amsterdam has competition from KLM as well as Air India, both operating daily from Delhi, while KLM also operates from Mumbai and Bengaluru.
The airline has been flying the B777s in its fleet for a while now; however, they do not operate to their full range potential and have replaced a route which was being flown by the A321neo/A320neo. With the Norse Atlantic Dreamliners, IndiGo is now venturing into routes which will test its operations even more as the routes are beyond the flying envelope of its backbone A320 family fleet. While the airline had announced flights from Delhi, the subsequent closure of Pakistani airspace and not having clarity on when it would reopen has meant that the airline has shifted its flights to originate at Mumbai instead of Delhi, an unlikely gain for Mumbai airport.
One of the most important announcements that come with this is the change in service standards for the airline. IndiGo says that it will offer complimentary hot meals and beverages will be served to all customers on this route. The airline has not been serving hot meals to even its IndiGoStretch customers, which is its competition to Business class product in Indian skies.
The hot meals have been possible since these two routes will see the Norse Atlantic-owned 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, which are fitted with ovens and are configured with 56 Premium Economy seats, which IndiGo sells as IndiGoStretch and 282 Economy class seats. The airline will be serving meals and alcohol on a complimentary basis to IndiGoStretch customers, while only meals and non-alcoholic beverages will be served to Economy class, with alcoholic beverages available for purchase.
IndiGo has partnerships with Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Air France-KLM, American Airlines, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic. These partners have been looking at Indian traffic to fill their intercontinental flights from their respective hubs in addition to Origin-Destination traffic. All in all, flights to one or more of these hubs could pave the way for collaboration between IndiGo and these airlines. All Indian carriers have always had ambitions to fly to London; while initially it was expected that the A321XLR could achieve that ambition for IndiGo, it became clear that it wouldn't be possible with the XLR.
If collaboration is on the cards, the next destinations for IndiGo could well be Paris (where Air France has a hub), in addition to London—which will be heavily dependent on the availability of slots. Can the airline snatch a bargain with the partner airlines to lease slots? This would be a game changer like no other.
The Indian traffic is lucrative for all carriers because of the sheer volumes it provides, and a partnership where IndiGo helps add anywhere between 200 and 300 more passengers per day is definitely a win for the partner airlines, in return for a slot which also comes at commercial terms.
IndiGo has a robust cost structure and a balance sheet which allows it to experiment and hold on to its plan for a little longer than what it would have otherwise been for the competition.
Air India is into its fourth year of privatisation and has faced headwinds with slots for revamp of its legacy fleet. The airline has not been able to add many destinations, especially with the long-haul fleet. On routes which have bilateral or slot constraints, getting equal with Air India or ahead of Air India makes sense for the airline instead of waiting until late 2027 or early 2028 when it can deploy its own A350s.
As Air India pushes Air India Express to lock horns with IndiGo on domestic routes, IndiGo is beginning to lock horns with Air India on international routes. Does it help negotiate better with Adani Airports to manage its slot portfolio at Mumbai? Time will tell.