India’s IndiGo, the largest carrier by market share and fleet, has just announced an order it was rumoured to announce in the past few days.

IndiGo places a firm order for 500 A320neo family aircraft.

IndiGo has placed a firm order for 500 A320 Family aircraft, setting the record for the biggest single purchase agreement in the history of commercial aviation. The latest agreement takes the total number of Airbus aircraft on order by IndiGo to 1,330, establishing its position as the world’s biggest A320 Family customer. Incidentally, this now takes over the Air India order for 470 aircraft, announced just earlier in 2023, as the largest order by a single airline ever.

The historic purchase agreement was signed by Rahul Bhatia, Promoter & Managing Director of IndiGo; Dr. Venkataramani Sumantran, Chairman and Non-Executive Independent Director of IndiGo; Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo; Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO, and Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International, at the Paris Air Show 2023.

Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, 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. At IndiGo, we take pride in being India’s preferred airline for connectivity in and with India; and by doing so, being one of the leading airlines in the world. This order strongly reaffirms IndiGo’s belief in the growth of India, in the A320 Family and in our strategic partnership with Airbus.

Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International Airbus, stated,

This landmark order marks a new chapter in Airbus and IndiGo’s relationship that is democratising affordable air travel for millions of people in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market. 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.

Since its first A320neo aircraft was delivered in March 2016, its fleet of A320neo Family has grown into one of the world’s largest, with 264 aircraft in operation (162 A320neo, 79 A321neo, 21 A320ceo and 2 A321 freighters. IndiGo placed its first order with Airbus in 2005 (100 A320 Family) and again in 2011 (180 A320 Family including the NEO), in 2014 (250neo Family),  and in 2019 (300 A320neo Family), taking its previous total order book to 830 A320 Family aircraft.

The aircraft ordered in this tranche will be delivered over the 2030 to 2035 timeframe, and the exact split between A320neo, A321neo and the XLR variant will be decided over time. Right now, this allows IndiGo to take up the slots from Airbus while other airlines look at short-term capacity augmentation, and IndiGo are going to be able to be securing its future for a decade out with this order.

Bottomline

IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share and fleet, has placed another order for 500 narrow-body aircraft with Airbus, securing its narrow-body aircraft slots till 2035. The engine choice and the split between A320neo/321neo and XLR will be decided later. This becomes the largest ever order by any airline placed.

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