India’s largest airline, IndiGo, has made history with the largest single purchase agreement ever in the commercial aviation industry after placing an order with Airbus for 500 A320 family aircraft.
The historic agreement was signed at this year’s Paris Air Show and increases the total number of Airbus aircraft currently on order from IndiGo to 1,330, cementing its position as the biggest A320 family model customer.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers stated that the order reaffirmed the company’s belief in the growth of the Indian aviation industry and its partnership with Airbus.
Elbers said: “It is difficult to overstate the significance of IndiGo’s new historic order for 500 Airbus A320 family aircraft.
“An order book now of almost 1000 aircraft well into the next decade, enables IndiGo to fulfil its mission to continue to boost economic growth, social cohesion and mobility in India.”
The order is emblematic of a period of strong growth for the company, registered as Interglobe Aviation Ltd, which has already far surpassed pre-pandemic revenue and added six destinations and 174 new weekly flights to its offerings just this month.
IndiGo’s growth has also been affected by the Indian Government’s lifting of price bands for domestic airfares in the middle of last year, originally instigated in response to concerns from customers at the onset of the pandemic, thus allowing for the company to drop its prices.
Airbus’ A320neo family, which has the widest single-aisle cabin in operation, has also seen increased popularity in recent years as Airbus claims there are over 8,700 orders from over 130 customers for the family of aircraft.
Airbus chief commercial officer and head of international Christian Scherer said the “landmark order” marked a new chapter in the aircraft manufacturing company’s relationship with the airline.
Scherer said: “It is also a resounding endorsement of the A320 family’s best-in-class operating economics that have been powering IndiGo’s growth for almost two decades. We cherish our long-standing relationship with IndiGo and are proud of our success together.
“We look forward to contributing to the growth of India’s air connectivity in its domestic network and into international markets through the expansion of this formidable partnership.”
In addition to the orders with Airbus, IndiGo has also been leasing A320neo aircraft from leasing company Avalon, with 21 of the company’s jets coming from the Irish company.
