IndiGo to expand fleet by 150 planes
19 Aug 2010
New Delhi: Indian civil aviation authorities have cleared a proposal by low cost carrier, IndiGo, to purchase 150 aircraft over the next couple of years with the carrier now eligible to commence foreign operations, a company executive said Wednesday. The size of the funds required to finance the acquisition was not revealed.
IndiGo completes five years of operations in August 2011, and this, under current rules, makes it eligible to serve foreign destinations.
"We will look at all the manufacturers," Rahul Bhatia, group managing director of parent InterGlobe Enterprises, informed the media.
After facing global recession and dipping economic activity at home in 2008 and 2009 India's dozen odd carriers are now looking to expand their fleet with air travel picking up again.
A Boeing estimate sizes the Indian market for 1,150 commercial jets over the next 20 years, at an estimated value of $130 billion.
Bhatia also clarified that inspite of an ambitious expansion plan, IndiGo had no immediate plans for stock market listing.
