Why IndiGo cannot sit back and relax with IndiGoStretch

IndiGo, India’s largest carrier, announced the launch of ‘IndiGoStretch’ business class on August 5 at an elaborate ceremony at Bharat Mandapam—the same venue that hosted the G20. The elaborate arrangements and venue selection were unlike those of a low-cost carrier, but the reason was also unlike IndiGo’s DNA. 

In May, the airline announced that it would offer business class services on select business and busiest routes in the country by the end of this year.

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The airline selected Recaro’s R5 as its seat of choice for the IndiGoStretch product, which goes live from November 14, 2024, between Delhi and Mumbai. These will be the A321neo aircraft with 12 business-class seats (three rows) and 208 economy-class seats, which also include some “XL” seats.

It may also be for this reason that IndiGo restructured its A320neo and A321neo deliveries. The airline had not taken a single delivery of the A321neo between October 2023 and May 2024. During the same period, IndiGo took delivery of 15 A320neo aircraft. It has taken delivery of seven A321neo since May 2024, while only five A320neo have joined its fleet since May this year. 

With a separate sub-fleet of 45 aircraft between November 2024 and December 2025, the airline was preparing for a mix of additional planes, retiring older A320neo incidentally powered by Pratt & Whitney engines and preparing for growth.

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While booking is now open for six flights a day, IndiGo's CEO Pieter Elbers announced that this will slowly spread to 12 sectors among the metro cities.

The likely 12 sectors?

India now has six metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

As per data shared by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, IndiGo has 2,282 weekly departures among these six cities. The Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi sector sees a maximum of 140 weekly flights each way, followed by 105 weekly flights each way between Delhi and Bengaluru as well as Mumbai and Bengaluru. 

When these six city pairs are connected with each other, it leads to 15 city pairs. Which 12 would then would make it? 

When the shortest sectors, such as Bengaluru-Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Bengaluru-Chennai-Bengaluru and Chennai-Hyderabad-Chennai, are removed, the count of 12 exactly matches what IndiGo’s CEO announced as the sectors where the airline will deploy the IndiGoStretch product.

Interestingly, with these three sectors removed, the total flight count drops to 1,890 weekly flights or 270 flights a day. IndiGo is currently deploying these aircraft at an average of six flights a day, which will change based on block time and sectors. Until then, at 270 flights a day and an average of six flights a day, it needs 45 aircraft, which is exactly the number it has announced, giving out indications of which these sectors will be.

Airline within an airline?

The sub-fleet with different seats in both classes is akin to having a small airline within an airline with a different set of service levels and routes, taking away the flexibility of swapping planes from other sectors. 

Yet at 45 planes, it will be nearly double what Akasa Air is today. However, a sub-fleet has operational headaches, like not being able to swap with another aircraft due to a lack of service levels being maintained, among other issues.

IndiGo may have left the single type of aircraft concept long ago, but with a single class, a swap in planes meant limited operational disruption, with certain rows of XL being impacted and the passenger count being a handful. 

A disruption in case of this sub-fleet means either waiting for replacement aircraft or having to handle passengers in regular economy class. A robust SOP before the operation begins is the need of the hour, without which social media will be full of complaints, as is the case with rival airlines. This also opens up more questions like will the airline look at expansion to regional international destinations with the dual class product.

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By the time IndiGo deploys its 45 planes, Air India (with merged Vistara) would have double these numbers in a three-class configuration, competing for the same traffic on these 12 routes, among others. 

How will the premium economy position itself, and will the erstwhile price war of the economy class shift to premium cabins? The passenger could well be the king again but at higher fares.