 "(Photo: Bloomberg)")
Airbus on Friday said that IndiGo has split its 500-aircraft order into 375 A321neo and 125 A320neo planes.
Air India's recent order with the European planemaker was pegged at 70 A321 neo, 140 A320neo, 34 A350-1000 and six A350-900 aircraft respectively, it said. While revealing the aforementioned break-up of IndiGo's order, Airbus said the "final split" between A320neo and A321neo aircraft will be defined at "a later stage".
In June, IndiGo placed the world's largest single-tranche aircraft order with Airbus for 500 A320 family planes. These planes will be delivered between 2030 and 2035.
Indigo's focus on ordering a higher number of A321neo aircraft will enable the airline to expand to wider global destinations as it is equipped with a higher range over the A320neo airplane.
The A320neo has a range of 6,300 kilometers, whereas the A321neo aircraft type has a range of up to 8,700 kilometers.
IndiGo already owns more than 60 per cent share in the domestic air passenger market and it wants to focus on international growth from here onwards. The airline is currently operating about 13,280 flights per week and only 10 per cent of them fly international, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
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In February, Air India had placed the world's second largest single-trache aircraft order for 470 planes: 250 with Airbus and 220 with Boeing. IndiGo and Air India did not respond to queries sent by Business Standard. IndiGo currently has more A320neo aircraft in its fleet than A321neos.
As of June 1, Indigo had a total 312 aircraft in its fleet -- 164 of them were A320neos and 85 were A321neos, according to data provided by Cirium.
Meanwhile, Air India, as of June 1, had a total of 125 aircraft in its fleet: 27 of them were A320neos and 4 A321neos.
The A350s -- which are wide body planes with bigger fuel tanks -- ordered by the Tata Group-run airline will allow it to expand on long-haul routes such as between India and the North-America.
In May, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the margins are slim in the domestic aviation market because of too much competition and hence airlines should focus on starting more international services wherein profits are higher.
Indian carriers operate only about 40 per cent of total international flights to and from India.
