Indigo Event- The highlights

Hello everyone, your extremely regular aviation blogger is back :) but jokes aside, here comes another August with another event. Last year, we waited with bated breath for the grand unveiling of the new Air India Identity which presented a new image and cabin for the airline which received a lukewarm response from aviation fanatics and the general public alike. Fast forward a year and its biggest competitor and India's largest airline, Indigo had an event as well which was in the midst of their 18th years of operation celebrations. With this, there were quite a few announcements that were made by the airline which will not only shape its future as we know it but impact the aviation industry as a whole. Let's look at some of the major announcements

Spreading it's wings globally

International traffic to and from India is increasing every year as well as is extremely underserved which indigo wants to take full advantage of. In its press conference, the airline formally announced that its looking to launch 7 new international destinations from India. Now, there are a myriad of destinations one can think about which deserves a post of its own, there are a few whose likelihood is higher than others considering their A321XLRs and A350s will be yet to enter service even come 2025. Mauritius is one such destination since the Indigo website has started showing flights on its website. Other destinations include, Seychelles, Chang Mai, Medina etc. which have a likelihood to start. However, only time shall tell what Indigo has been planning all this time.

Indigo the premium airline?

Picture Via Moneycontrol

With much chatter, Indigo launched IndigoStreach, its own take on business class to go on floors soon on its select A321neos. The product will be officially rolled out in November on the popular Delhi to Mumbai flights. Now this is real big news if you ask me! For a while now, the tatas, with its Air India and Vistara brands have been controlling the domestic premium market but now, there is a new kid in the block that too India's largest airline. This move is to clearly bring in threat for the tata's and a relief for passengers due to more choice being on offer. Speaking for the seats themselves, the product is pretty generic which makes it a good testing ground for its premium services and a good steppingstone in concern with the products on offer. With the A321XLR and A350 entering the fleet in the future, one can expect a better, more premium product to be rolled out soon.

Here comes the bluechip

Picture via Simple Flying

In recent times, loyalty programs have significantly risen in popularity with the advent of improved reward systems and frequent fliers choosing a particular airline due to having a strong rewards program. Seeing all of this, Indigo announced BlueChip, its very own loyalty program which allows passengers to earn points on every indigo flight they take. Safe to say this is again a big move seeing that it will further motivate people to fly Indigo if they are signed up for their program seeing that they'll earn further rewards. Further details aren't known at this time.

Final Thoughts

Ooff.. the stage is really getting heated up now. With these changes, Indigo and Air India are now levelling each other and the competition is all set to become more intense. Even more so when Indigo is prepared to enter Air India territory once it receives its long-haul jet. However, only time shall tell what the outcome will be.