IndiGo's cargo business still in startup phase: CEO Pieter Elbers

IndiGo is still "in a startup phase" in its cargo operations, which will "hopefully stabilise" in the coming months, its CEO, Pieter Elbers, said.

He added that India's biggest airline by market share has extended the lease periods on some of its planes to cope with supply chain issues from plane makers.

"It's a relatively new business for us," he told ET.


"This is a new experience for us. Secondly, there has been a lot of dynamics in the cargo market. If you have seen the IATA statistics, you saw the cargo market during Covid growing enormously high and then going down a little bit. So there's some dynamics there," he added.

Global full-year demand for cargo was down 8% in 2022, compared to 2021, according to latest figures from the International Air Transport Association, a global lobbying body of airlines.

"China has been difficult to operate, if not closed..and obviously, it is an important cargo market. For our cargo business, our approach has been gradual and phased," Elbers said.

IndiGo got its first A321 freighter aircraft in November and the second in December. Elbers said the third one would join its fleet later this year.

He added IndiGo isn't going slow on its cargo business plans.

Earlier this month, IndiGo reported a record quarterly profit, an 11-fold surge over last year, as air travel demand rose.

The airline clocked total revenues of ₹14,933 crore during the quarter, up 70% on year.

"The higher demand that we saw in all of 2022 has pretty much accelerated in the last quarter," said Elbers. adding that while the market hasn't recovered to Covid levels, IndiGo is operating much higher numbers than it was during Covid.

He added international recovery has been slower for many reasons including a partial slowdown in China.

IndiGo operates 76 domestic and 26 international destinations. He said the airline will be adding flights to Nairobi and Jakarta shortly.