Journalism of Courage
IndiGo,the countrys largest airline by market share,on Saturday announced plans to induct smaller aircraft to tap the potential in Indias growing regional aviation market.
Clearly,there is a market for smaller aircraft. If you ask me are we interested,then probably yes,but I am not saying that it will happen tomorrow. There are plans but we have not worked out the details about the kind of aircraft yet, said Rahul Bhatia,managing director,InterGlobe Enterprises,the parent company of IndiGo.
Bhatia declined to share specifics on whether a separate subsidiary will be established for the proposed foray into regional air connectivity services.
IndiGo will be come the third Indian carrier,after Air India and SpiceJet,to have plans to launch operations with smaller aircraft. Air India connects the northeastern states and SpiceJet uses smaller aircraft to connect various destinations with low traffic potential.
IndiGo,which is adding an aircraft every month to its existing fleet of 71 Airbus A320s,also said that a portion of deliveries for its order of 100 aircraft would be advanced by 19 months to November 2014. With this,IndiGos fleet size would have a fleet of 85 A320s.
Bhatia was speaking at the inauguration of the pilot training facility for Airbus 320 in Greater Noida,near Delhi. The facility is a 50:50 joint venture between InterGlobe Enterprises and CAE,a Canadian company.
