Indigo tips

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, April 26. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

IndiGo, which operates on the no-frills philosophy, has perfected its model of keeping costs low since 2006. The airline is one of the biggest customers of the A320/320neo family, with 1,340 of these ordered and over 350 in operation. 

Indian budget carrier IndiGo has placed its first-ever order for widebody aircraft, with an order of 30 Airbus A350-900 jets. The move is expected to help expand IndiGo’s international network to long-haul destinations.

The first time that Eric Garcetti stayed at the U.S. Embassy in India was during his college years. A friend’s father had been appointed the U.S. Ambassador, and Garcetti was invited to join on a trip. He had no idea that the embassy would become his home years later.

There’s a big demand from Indian tourists to visit the U.S., but there’s not as much demand the other way around.

Indian airlines inducted 112 aircraft in 2023, according to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation. The ministry added that with this, the total number of aircraft in the fleets of scheduled airline operators stood at 771 as on December 31, 2023.

Indian online travel agency EaseMyTrip announced on Monday that it has suspended all flight bookings to Maldives in what its Co-Founder and CEO, Prashant Pitti, deemed was in “solidarity with the nation.”

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Demand for U.S. visas from Indian travelers are at record highs. But 500-day wait times or longer continue to hinder travel to the U.S.  

Travel searches by Indian travelers for Thailand have spiked. Online travel agency Agoda’s search data for the peak December travel period shows recent visa policy changes have impacted travel preferences and top destination choices for Indian travelers.   

Low-cost carrier IndiGois set to be the first airline partner for India’s new Noida International Airportwhen it begins its first phase of operations by the end of next year. 

IndiGo, India’s largest airline by fleet size and domestic market share, is also one of the largest Airbus customers. Its fleet of 332 aircraft consists of 289 A320 family aircraft. And it has 954 A320/A321neo aircraft pending delivery. 

In this year’s winter schedule, Indigo will have the largest number of domestic flights among Indian airlines, with a total of 13,119 flights each week – a 30% increase from a year earlier.

Under a pilot program, Sri Lanka will be issuing free tourist visas through next March to visitors from seven countries: India, China, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This initiative is part of Sri Lanka’s broader strategy to revitalize its tourism sector and achieve a target of 5 million arrivals by 2026.

This week in Mumbai, Air India Express unveiled its brand new look on a brand new Boeing 737–8 aircraft. The message was clear: A break away from its staid image as a sleepy subsidiary no one talks about.

India is looking to institute a “Swachhata (Cleanliness) Rating Framework” designed to evaluate tourism businesses, such as hotels and homestays, according to Tourism Secretary V Vidyavathi.

Online travel company Agoda has announced that it has partnered with Indian e-commerce platform Snapdeal to deliver what it calls cost-effective travel options for Indian consumers.

Last week, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Philip Green said India became the first country to return to and surpass pre-pandemic levels of travel to Australia. 

IndiGo is developing a wrist device designed to gauge pilot fatigue and alertness levels before and after flights, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters The budget carrier will work in partnership with the French aerospace conglomerate, Thales Group, and also intends to appoint a consultant to improve its fatigue risk management procedures. 

Hotel occupancy and room rates have bounced back to pre-pandemic numbers, primarily due to the soaring demand for the G20 Summitto be held in New Delhi on September 9 to 10. 

Indian carriers have occupied a lion’s share of international air traffic, which is more than pre-Covid times, as per data released by India’s aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This is testament to the fact that India could rank among the top three markets for outbound travel in the coming years. Leading this expansion in market share in low-cost carrier Indigo. Passengers carried on international flights operated by Indian carriers accounted for 43.5 percent of total overseas travel in the fourth quarter of 2022, up from 39.2 percent in the corresponding period of 2019. In 2020, during the same period, the market share of Indian carriers rose to 65.3 percent, and in 2021, the share of Indian carriers in the total international passenger traffic stands at 49.6 percent. Out of the 30 Indian cities from where international passengers embark/disembark, five Indian cities accounted for approximately 70.2 percent of international passenger traffic. Delhi tops the position in the category with a share of 28.3 percent, followed by Mumbai at 19.8 percent share and Chennai at 8.5 percent share).