IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers: ‘With 3.5 Lakh Customers A Day, There’s Going To Be Complaints’

IndiGo’s first flight from Mumbai to Manchester on July 1 marked a new beginning and international expansion for the airline.

It’s second long-haul flight headed to Amsterdam, followed the very next day.

Currently, the airline will operate three nonstop weekly flights to Europe.

“With the arrival of additional aircraft later this year, the frequencies could grow. London and Copenhagen will follow this year. We will further expand the long-haul footprint,” Abhijit Dasgupta, senior vice president, planning & revenue management, IndiGo, told The Core.

The airline is also evaluating other potential long-haul markets and underserved routes to further expand its international routes.

Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, termed this a moment that marks the carrier’s transition into “growing global relevance”.

But Indigo’s international debut also comes at a time of global turmoil in aviation, thanks to supply chain problems, volatile fuel prices and risks because of geopolitical issues.

Back home in India while IndiGo managed to survive the pandemic as its rivals struggled, it consistently faces complaints, often amplified on social media, from passengers on service issues.

Can Indigo keep up its winning streak in a space where foreign carriers dominate?

The Core spoke with CEO Elbers and vice president Dasgupta for their answers.

Fleet And Expansion

The airline industry, including IndiGo, is facing a supply chain crisis with major backlog deliveries. For now, IndiGo is managing the shortfall with wet lease arrangements.

The introduction of the first of six Boeing 787s wet-leased from Norse Atlantic Airways is helping IndiGo establish the brand in the European market, especially on underserved long-haul routes. Under a wet lease, the lessor is responsible for providing crew, maintenance, and taking insurance responsibility.

The 787-9s will eventually be replaced by the long-range narrow-body aircraft A321XLR with a range of about 8,700 km, making it ideal for medium- to long-haul routes.

The Airbus A321XLR, expected to start arriving end of this year, “will act as a strategic bridge between our current international network and future long-haul expansion plans”, said Elbers.

IndiGo also expects deliveries of Airbus A350-900s by 2027. These will add to widen its international footprint.

“Lessons are being learnt along the way,” said Dasgupta. “The wet lease arrangements with Norse are helping gain operational insights into wide-body flying, particularly around crew planning, turnaround time management, on-board service delivery, and customer expectations for long-haul travel.”

IndiGo fleet order book — currently the largest in the world — includes 1,330 orders since 2006, making it Airbus’s largest A320 family customer to date. With 946 current outstanding order backlogs, the deliveries are likely to stretch well into the 2030s. The order includes 60 Airbus A350-900s, 69 A321XLRs, 579 A321neos and 237 A320neos.

IndiGo plans to surpass 600 aircraft by 2030, adding one new aircraft nearly every week, said Elbers.

Global Push

Having surpassed legacy carriers, Austrian Airlines, Finnair, Thai Airways, Japan Airlines and Korean Air, IndiGo now deploys 30% of its seat capacity across 41 international destinations — mainly in the Middle East, South/Southeast Asia, Africa and CIS countries.

The airline is increasingly positioning itself as a direct competitor to full-service Emirates and Qatar Airways — often referred to as “Indian carriers” as they carry a significant share of India’s international traffic through their hubs in Dubai and Doha that act as de facto Indian international gateways.

By bridging this connectivity gap, IndiGo will likely reduce reliance on Middle East or Southeast Asian hubs — a topic that has dominated aviation discussions for decades.

Indigo's regional, domestic, and global capabilities are backed by a fleet of 411 aircraft, reflecting its strategy of a high-utilisation model.

The airline’s strategy has been consistent and clear — the mantra of fuel efficiency, quick turnarounds, and fleet commonality to keep costs low and reliability high.

It set an example of how a focused low-cost model can outpace traditional full-service carriers with legacy cost structures when it overtook domestic rivals Jet Airways and Kingfisher by 2012. Both these full-service rivals are now defunct.

The airline plans to follow a hub-light strategy, relying less on a single dominant central hub like Delhi or Mumbai alone, democratising international access by connecting smaller Indian cities to global destinations by operating direct flights.

For high-frequency regional and short-haul international routes, IndiGo relies on the A320neo, while the larger A321neo is deployed on denser and longer sectors like Delhi–Mumbai and Chennai–Singapore.

Its fleet of 48 ATR 72-600 turboprops, not part of the present order, supports the UDAN scheme connecting underserved towns in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. An order for up to 100 new regional aircraft could be in the offing, though this could not be confirmed by The Core.

Prioritising International Partnerships

IndiGo’s global ambitions also include strategic partnerships with international airlines. In June, Elbers announced key partnerships with Delta, Air France-KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. Through 2026, these airlines will funnel traffic from IndiGo’s metro hubs (Delhi, Mumbai) to Europe and North America via Paris, Amsterdam, and London.

Turkish Airlines will continue connecting South and Central Europe through Istanbul, while Qatar Airways' Doha hub will serve Africa and South America-until IndiGo's A350s arrive. These alliances enable IndiGo to access over 100 global destinations through codeshares as it awaits deliveries.

On IndiGo’s international partnership strategy, Elbers said: “These partnerships have different roles and functions in the network... we will expand these partnerships, have more codeshares, reciprocal codeshares and we will further build on these partnerships. (Airline) Alliance is not a priority at this point of time.”

From 2026 to 2028, IndiGo plans to evolve into a joint capacity provider. The A321XLR will unlock new point-to-point international routes such as Delhi–Athens and Mumbai–Bali. Tier-2 Indian cities like Jaipur and Coimbatore could feed into partner networks through IndiGo, while its A350s lay the foundation for long-haul.

With triangular itineraries (e.g. Delhi–Paris on IndiGo, then Boston on Air France), the carrier plans to evolve into a major global connector without joining an alliance.

Budget Luxe?

IndiGo evolved into a hybrid budget carrier in 2024 with business-class seating on select routes with “enhanced comfort”, maintaining its cost-efficient roots.

Despite targeting the value-conscious premium traveller, the launch ‘Stretch’ has received tepid response in the domesitc sector.

The long-haul Boeing 787-9 offers two cabin types — the ‘Indigo Stretch’ with a Recaro business seat with 38-inch pitch, wider leather seats in a 2–3–2 layout. Passengers get amenity kits, curated snacks, and premium Indian alcohol.

However, it lacks features typical of full-service business class, such as lounge access and lie-flat beds. Its positioning as a business class obviously led to comparisons with other such offerings.

“Will we have private suites, caviar and champagne? No, that’s not IndiGo. But look at what we’ve done with Stretch. It’s a great product, good service with an effective price point,” Elbers said.

Changing Brand Perception

IndiGo’s branding has evolved from a functional promise of “On-Time, Every Time” to a broader emotional positioning around “Connecting India”, reflecting its dominance in domestic connectivity and growing international footprint.

The airline reinforces this identity from in-flight messaging to digital campaigns while maintaining a clean, minimalist aesthetic that signals efficiency and reliability.

Historically, very few budget airlines have reached the International Air Transport Association (IATA) chair position, which has traditionally been held by full-service carriers. Elbers’ appointment as chair while leading IndiGo is a notable exception and marks a shift in global aviation dynamics.

IndiGo hosting the 81st IATA Annual General Meeting in June may not be part of its brand identity per se, but it does underscore its rising stature in global aviation.

Passenger complaints, especially when amplified on social media, can dent IndiGo’s public image even though it maintains strong operational metrics like punctuality and market share.

Recurring grievances about delays, staff behaviour, and compensation handling have triggered reputational challenges.

“If we have three and a half lakh customers a day, there’s going to be complaints…” said Elbers.

He added that IndiGo actively monitors social media, tracks complaints and takes corrective action, even if improvements aren’t immediately visible.

Full Steam Ahead, But Not Without Hiccups

Following the recent Air India crash, while IndiGo hasn't been immune to broader consequences such as rising insurance premiums and sector-wide DGCA audits adding pressure across the board, it is actively enhancing its Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) capabilities to support the rapidly expanding fleet.

IndiGo is investing over Rs 1,100 crore to build a state-of-the-art MRO facility spanning 31 acres in partnership with Bengaluru’s Kempe Gowda International Airport. Designed to service both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, the move marks a strategic shift toward in-house capabilities.

When asked about the recent trend on OEMS like Boeing and Airbus wanting to get involved in MRO by airlines, Elbers’s response: “We are the largest customer of Airbus globally.”

In terms of human resources, partnerships through leasing are helping bridge gaps for now. But as its own A350s arrive from 2027, it’ll need to scale up crew capabilities.

While IndiGo’s plans are ambitious, they come with their challenges, such as competing with other airlines, rising costs and meeting the expectations of premium travellers. Its success will depend on strategic execution and a consistent experience as it expands fast.