Indigo A321xlr
Delhi-based low-cost airline, IndiGo, is further expanding its international footprint. On Monday, the airline announced that it will start three times a week services from both Delhi and Mumbai to Athens.
Why is it a significant development?
This is a significant development for two reasons. This is the first international destination that IndiGo hopes to operate with the A321XLR it has ordered. On October 29, 2019, IndiGo placed a firm order for 300 A320neo family aircraft. This marked one of Airbus’ largest aircraft orders ever with a single airline operator. The order at that time comprised a mix of A320neo, A321neo, and A321XLR aircraft.
The delivery of the A321XLR has been delayed, and now the first aircraft is expected only towards the end of this year, which will be used to launch the route to Athens.
The launch of the flight will make IndiGo the only Indian carrier to operate between India and Greece. Indian flyers wanting to get to Greece can either fly Gulf carriers like Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, or any other. They can fly European carriers like Lufthansa and British Airways, among others. All these international airlines have multiple daily flights to various cities in India.
The announcement of flying to Athens comes weeks before IndiGo is to link India with London Heathrow, a flight which starts in early October. This service is in addition to flights to Manchester and Amsterdam, which began in July this year.
Now all the services mentioned above are operated with a wet-leased 787 aircraft, which IndiGo has taken from Norse Atlantic.
Indian carriers tend to concentrate on the capital cities or major metro cities in Europe, connecting to London, Paris, Rome, Zurich, Amsterdam, Manchester, Frankfurt, and Stockholm, among others.
Elbers hinted at this early in tenure
Early in his tenure, in an interaction with the Indian media, then newly appointed IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers hinted at flying to the islands in European water bodies.
His argument was simple: if Gulf carriers can fly multiple times a day from their hubs to these islands, why can IndiGo not fly there? (What probably remained unsaid at that time was, if Indian passengers are using Gulf carriers to fly there, why can IndiGo not provide them direct connections from India?)
AEGEAN announces India flights
In July this year, AEGEAN announced the addition of two new Airbus A321XLRs with an even more extended range of up to 10.5 hours, while accelerating the initiation of its flights to India in March 2026.
With this addition, its Airbus A320/A321 neo order stands at 60 aircraft, of which 36 have already been delivered to date, the airline said at that time.
Problems that could be faced
While on paper this flight makes sense, there are challenges. One example is Indian citizens getting a Schengen visa. Getting a visa is a lengthy process, with media reports discussing long wait times and frequent rejections.
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