The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Operational decision · 2006–2015
IndiGo flies only one aircraft type, so training, spares and crew rosters stay cheap
India's most profitable airline kept one plane type and configuration, bought in record-size orders, and used scale to undercut everyone.
IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation)
the move
IndiGo launched in 2006 as a no-frills airline and kept the model pure while rivals added plane types, business cabins and code-shares. It flies a single type of aircraft and engine, which reduces expenses for maintenance, spare parts, operations, crew training and labour, and lets it run crew rosters more efficiently.
Standardization was paired with scale. IndiGo placed orders for 100 A320s in June 2005, 180 A320neos in June 2011 and 250 A320neos in August 2015 — each the largest single Airbus order at the time — giving it favourable terms from Airbus and suppliers and a structural cost advantage.
The model produced results: high aircraft utilization with low turnaround times, point-to-point routes, no code-shares, operational reliability of 99.95% in FY2015, and the only consistently profitable record among Indian airlines since FY2009, with a young fleet averaging 3.2 years.
why it works
- One aircraft type cuts maintenance, spares, training and labour costs
- Record-size orders bought favourable terms from Airbus and suppliers
- One configuration keeps crew rosters and scheduling simple
- Point-to-point flying and low turnaround raise aircraft utilization
what transfers
Standardization compounds with buying power: one configuration lowers every per-unit cost, and record-size orders turn that saving into a supplier-level advantage.
what came after
IndiGo's single-type model made it India's biggest and most consistently profitable airline by its 2015 IPO, and the airline kept the doctrine as its core cost engine for two decades before beginning to add a second family for long-haul routes in the mid-2020s.
references
- Five things an IndiGo investor should know
- We're chasing a billion $1 ideas: IndiGo CEO
- From low-cost airline to business class: What is IndiGo's new strategy all about?
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.