IndiGo has been discussing going to newer destinations for a while, including the last time they declared results. Now, they are ready to announce some of the moves they will make in Central Asia and Africa.

IndiGo announces connectivity between Mumbai and Africa.

Today, IndiGo announced that it will connect Mumbai and Nairobi, Kenya, with direct flights between July/August 2023. They will soon notify the flights for sale and their frequency. This will be the first step of IndiGo into Africa, whereas Vistara recently entered Africa with a flight to Mauritius.

IndiGo announces connectivity between Delhi and Central Asia.

The headliner of the announcement, though, was the addition of Central Asia to the map, where no Indian carrier goes at the moment. Delhi will get the following connections into Central Asia soon:

• Tbilisi, Georgia (3x weekly, starting Aug 2023)
• Baku, Azerbaijan (4x weekly, starting Aug 2023)
• Tashkent, Uzbekistan (4x weekly, starting Sept 2023)
• Almaty, Kazakhstan (3x, starting Sept 2023)

This should provide the balance needed because the airlines of the Stans, such as Air Astana, Uzbekistan Airways and Turkmenistan Airlines, already fly into India. Still, Indian carriers have not gone over, apart from Air India, which used to serve Tashkent back in the day.

IndiGo is also heading to Indonesia.

IndiGo is also going to connect Jakarta, Indonesia, with direct flights from Mumbai in July/August 2023. However, they have yet to announce how many flights a week and will do so when they open for sale. Besides this, IndiGo will also be resuming operations daily services from Delhi to Hong Kong in August 2023, suspended due to Covid-19 3 years ago.

With these announcements, IndiGo is adding six new international destinations to its network in Q3 2023 and taking up its global network to 32 from 26, where it currently stands. The execution of this large-scale international expansion is an integral part of IndiGo’s strategy of moving Towards New Heights and Across New Frontiers.

On this occasion, IndiGo’s CEO, Pieter Elbers, said,

We are absolutely excited to embark further on our ambitious international network expansion plans, in line with our commitment to giving wings to the Indian nation. As we steadfastly execute our strategy ‘Towards New Heights and Across New Frontiers’, we are poised to establish unparalleled connections between people and places. The addition of these exciting new destinations, new direct flight routes, enhanced flight frequencies, and strategic codeshare partnerships, will help us expand our footprint across four continents with Africa and Central Asia being penetrated for the first time. With this expansion in our network, we will now be directly touching 32 international destinations (up from 26), next to our 78 domestic destinations.

IndiGo also intends to grow stronger in the Middle East and Bangladesh.

IndiGo’s Middle East expansion plans include launching more direct international services bringing the Middle Eastern destinations closer to more Indian cities by connecting Dammam to Lucknow, Chennai, and Kochi; Abu Dhabi to Goa, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad; Ras Al Khaimah to Hyderabad; Bahrain to Kochi and Jeddah to Ahmedabad over the next few months.

Along with this, there will be an array of increased frequencies between Mumbai-Dhaka, in August 2023. The airline has already announced Bhubaneshwar – Singapore flights and is working on offering international options from the newly opened GOX (New Goa airport).

IndiGo is going all guns blazing abroad as it tries and creates new markets for travel from/to India and also lays its hands on some of the slots before Air India gets the firepower to start international operations to various such territories with their equipment that arrives later this year onwards.

Bottomline

IndiGo is heading into the next phase of its growth, which will be largely international growth in the coming years. They are already preparing for their XLR equipment, will order new wide bodies soon, and have already inducted a couple of damp leases from Turkish Airlines. They are using all sorts of strategies to start gaining broader expertise and insights and slots for expanding internationally to take the battle to Air India, which is already big on the international routes.

What do you make out of IndiGo’s international expansion plans announced today?

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