On Sunday, IndiGo announced that it is looking to use its alliance with Turkish Airlines to enable codeshare access in the US and Canada. A senior official said on Friday that the airline has been given permission by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to give two aircraft on wet lease to operate flights to the United States and Canada.
Responding to queries on this, IndiGo on Sunday said it constantly evaluates and discusses opportunities with aircraft manufacturers, but this is pure speculation at this stage. “We currently aim to enable codeshare connectivity to the US and Canada through our partnership with Turkish Airlines following the necessary application and approval process,” the statement said.
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Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it does not have a presence. The airline’s plans also come against the backdrop of Air India starting to ramp up its international operations and expanding its fleet with orders for new aircraft.
IndiGo started operating the wide-body Boeing 777 on the Delhi-Istanbul route in February. The aircraft has been taken on wet lease from Turkish Airlines, and is the first time that the budget carrier has started flying the wide-body aircraft.
Under a wet lease arrangement, aircraft are leased along with operating crew and engineers. Generally, wet leasing of aircraft is permitted for short periods to deal with shortages of supply and to ensure that airfares do not increase significantly. There are also reports that the airline may place a significant order for new planes. Currently, the airline has more than 300 aircraft in its fleet, and about 500 aircraft are on order.
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by domestic market share and operating around 1,800 flights daily, is focusing on internationalization of operations, preparing to fly to more foreign destinations.
In an interview in February, IndiGo CEO Peter Albers said the airline has always kept the option of larger size aircraft open, but did not reveal specific details.
“IndiGo has never denied any option. We have a significant order book. We have around 500 aircraft on order… We have a steady stream of deliveries.” “Our focus and thrust will be on that segment. We have XLR orders which will further increase the range of IndiGo’s operations.”
with PTI inputs