Low-cost air-carrier IndiGo Airlines has said it will allocate almost 16 per cent of its fleet capacity to international operations by March next, while ruling out any hike in fares in the near term.

“By next March, that is the first six months of our international operations, we will be dedicating 15-16 per cent of our total aircraft capacity to international operations.

Hopefully, this would be profitable too. By next March we should have about 55 aircraft,” the company President, Mr Aditya Ghosh, told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI-IBA summit here late last evening.

When asked whether he is planning to up fares in the run-up to the festive season, Mr Ghosh replied in the negative.

“I don’t believe in fare hikes. I just believe in lots more people flying and being a profitable airline,” he said.

On the rationale for entering international route, Mr Ghosh said that he sees a “massive” demand in these markets.

“Not a single Indian low-fare carrier flies through these routes. So we see a massive demand and a gap in these markets. We hope to repeat the same thing that we have done in the domestic sector in these markets too: keeping our offering simple and offering low fares,” he said.

The President also said that the low-cost carrier will be deploying A-320s on its international routes.

The airline is currently operating on the Delhi-Dubai, Mumbai-Dubai, Delhi-Singapore and Mumbai-Muscat routes.

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