IndiGo turns gaze towards regional market

NEW DELHI: Rahul Bhatia, the promoter of IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share, said on Saturday the airline is looking to enter tier-II and tier-III markets with smaller aircraft, confirming a major shift in its strategy of using a single-type of aircraft and focusing on metros and large cities.

Bhatia, group managing director of Inter-Globe Enterprises, the company that owns IndiGo, said there is a potential for a regional aviation market. “I’m not saying it’s going to happen tomorrow so we haven’t really figured out whether we would target this market via IndiGo or a separate subsidiary,” he said on the sidelines of an event marking the launch of a training facility for pilots partnering Canada’s CAE.

Bhatia’s comments could be interpreted as the airline’s preparations to take on AirAsia India, a joint venture between Malaysia’s AirAsia, Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia, which has revealed it will focus on the small cities with its base in Chennai, with a possible launch early in 2014. But Bhatia said IndiGo welcomed competition. “India is grossly underserved so we need more aircraft and more airlines.

Earlier in 2013, ET reported that Bhatia had met with aviation ministry officials to discuss starting a new airline for the regional market with 18-20 turbo propellor ATR planes. Low-cost airlines like IndiGo typically use a single type of aircraft to save on costs related to training and maintenance.