Low-cost airline IndiGo to start flying in early Aug

New Delhi, June 22: Another low-cost airline is gearing up to start flying in the Indian skies by the first week of August.

IndiGo had stunned many experts by placing an order of 100 single-aisle Airbus A320s valued at six billion dollars at the Le Bourget air show a year ago.

''Our first brand new plane will arrive in July-end,'' said its president and CEO Bruce Ashby in an interview to UNI. ''We'll add one aircraft every month this year.'' IndiGo will have six planes by December 06, add nine more next year, and take the fleet size to 23 by 07-end. The venture is being jointly promoted by InterGlobe Enterprises and Mr Rakesh Gangwal, globally recognised for his management skills and expertise in the airline industry.

''In the first few years, we plan to induct only 180-seater A320s and (maybe) later add A319s and A321s as well,'' said Mr Ashby who helped guide US Airways Group's bankruptcy reorganisation.

IndiGo is still awaiting flight schedule approvals but plans to progressively connect Delhi and Mumbai with Jammu, Srinagar, Guwahati, Imphal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Nagpur.

The project has a start-up capital of Rs 100 crore and is expecting to reach economies of scale in 15 to 20 months. ''Our average fare will be in the range of Rs 3,000. IndiGo will follow a dynamic pricing model which means the early a passenger books, the less will it cost. As seats get filled, the price bar moves up.'' The no-frills airline will use all modern management techniques of a world class carrier like SouthWest, keep the costs compressed, try to fill up 75 to 80 per cent of seats and eventually connect all Indian cities with a population of over one million.

''There's plenty of demand to fill in all 100 planes we've ordered for deliveries spread over 10 years. Incomes among the Indian middle class are rising and aviation infrastructure is set to grow. So we're clearly on the right track, at the right time,'' said Mr Ashby.

IndiGo is training 150 employees currently which include pilots, cabin crew, maintenance engineers and airport frontline staff. It hopes to breakeven in 18 to 25 months.

Passengers will be able to book tickets through a call centre, online, travel agents and retail outlets. But there will be no entertainment or food on board.

''We'll be targetting people who pay with their own money or whose companies watch their budgets,'' said Mr Ashby adding passengers normally pay five to six per cent of their annual incomes on air tickets.

UNI