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IndiGo's Growth Gambit: -Riding on India's Travel Boom
- Maanav Parikh
- Mar 6
- 3 min read
Indigo seems to be having a time of its life. The airline is recording record profit and passenger numbers and expanding like no other, firmly securing its position as India's largest carrier. However, something peculiar lately has caught my attention regarding its expansion. Although Indigo may mean business as of late, no pun intended, Indigo secretly is betting on an entirely different market if you guessed the booming leisure market, bravo! You are correct.
The Routes
Just recently, Indigo announced flights to Krabi in Thailand with a daily frequency from Mumbai. Not just Krabi, Indigo has launched destinations like Mauritius, Bali, Lakwakii, Penang and Seychelles. Noticed something, most of these destinations are leisure-driven destinations. Not only that, Indigo is With this shift, Indigo is firmly positioning itself as the airline of choice for the leisure traveller.
India's Travel Boom
Post the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism has boomed like anything and Indians had contributed to one of the largest outbound tourism compared to any other country in the world. With a growing middle class and disposable income, Indians are spending more and more on their foreign trips, approximating to almost 25 billion dollars in 2023. Lifting and easing visa restrictions has also been a major contributor to the growing travel. Not only popular options like Vietnam, Thailand, etc, are popular but also off-beat destinations like Georgia and Azerbaijan (Which, mind you, Indigo flies to).
Why Indigo?
The leisure destinations are a tough nut to crack for a full cost airline, but not so much for a low-cost airline, because these routes are low-yielding but also extremely price sensitive. With Indigo being a low-cost carrier, it can offer competitive prices and also fly to these destinations at a far lower cost. Not only that, Indigo operates these routes out of its big bases like Mumbai and Bengaluru, which allows efficiency in regards to connecting to other cities not only in India but around its expansive network.
What's Next?
Indigo has opened itself to many destinations and is eager and willing to expand further. If rumors are to be believed, Cambodia may be on the cards with flights to Siem Reap. Along with that, Bishek in Kyrgyzstan was also on the radar for the airline due to a rise in tourism to Central Asia. Personally speaking, I would want Indigo to capitalize its position and push further to secure domination. Vietnam is a market which Indigo may potentially look at and add more flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and possibly even look at Da Nang as a new destination. The airline can also consider a 4th destination in Thailand, seeing the boom in travel due to lifting visa restrictions. With its existing fleet, the South-East Asia market should be the utmost priority. Africa is another market it could look at, but is a little uncertain as Indigo is already flying to popular destinations like Nairobi, Mauritius, and the soon-to-be-launched Seychelles. As discussed in previous blogs, the opportunities widen further with the arrival of its A321XLR and the newly-leased 787-9s. With the XLR, Indigo could venture further east into Asia with destinations like Manila and Seoul, and also add more flights to the ever-popular Bali, where it currently faces payload restrictions, or venture to European destinations like Athens and Vienna where travel remains popular.
With the 787s the scope widens further to Western Europe with UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands all opening up for the ambitious carrier, however,r Time shall tell what comes into fruition.
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