India’s largest low-cost domestic airline IndiGo, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 250 firm Airbus A320neo airliners. ...
India’s largest low-cost domestic airline IndiGo, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 250 firm Airbus A320neo airliners.
The $25.5 billion worth deal is also Airbus's single largest order by number of aircraft.
IndiGo Co-Founders, Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia, Group Managing Director of InterGlobe, signed the MoU at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.
Aditya Ghosh, President of IndiGo said, “This new order reaffirms IndiGo’s commitment to the long-term development of affordable air transportation in India and overseas. The additional aircraft will enable us to continue to bring our low fares and courteous, hassle free service to more customers and markets and will create more job opportunities and growth. The IndiGo team is energised and excited to herald this new phase of our growth.”
IndiGo already has orders for 280 Airbus aircraft, including 100 A320ceo placed in 2005 and 180 A320neo placed in 2011.
Founded in 2006, IndiGo now has the largest domestic market share of 32.6 per cent as of May 2014, overtaking the Jet Airways and the state owned Air India. IndiGo operates an all Airbus fleet of 83 A320s configured in only economy class seating.
The airline had managed to make profits even during sluggish economic conditions when other carriers accumulated losses and saw another domestic carrier Kingfisher going defunct.
The A320neo which completed its maiden flght on Sept 25, is an re-engined and upgraded A320 airliner.
The neo (new engine option) variant incorporates many innovations, including latest generation engines and large Sharklet wing-tip devices, which together deliver 15 percent in fuel savings from day one and 20 per cent by 2020 which is equivalent to a reduction of 5,000 tonnes of CO2 per aircraft per year.
The two latest-generation engine choices are CFM International’s LEAP-1A and the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1100G-JM Geared Turbofan Engine.
The A320 Family is the world’s best-selling single aisle product line with almost 11,000 orders to date and over 6,200 aircraft delivered to 400 customers and operators worldwide.
