IndiGo continues to look at long haul ops without Air India: Rahul Bhatia

IndiGo is actively studying the choice of having wide-bodied aircraft and continues to look at opportunities for long haul flights without Air India, the airline's interim CEO Rahul Bhatia said on Wednesday. The country's leading carrier, which has nearly 40 per cent share of the domestic market, has been operating with narrow-body A320 planes for a long time and last year inducted ATR aircraft into its fleet. The airline had 159 planes at the end of March 2018.

Embarking on ambitious expansion plans, IndiGo was the first airline to express interest in the disinvestment of loss-making Air India but opted out after the government came out with the preliminary information memorandum in March.

"We were interested in primarily acquiring Air India's international operations and Air India Express. Unfortunately, that option is not available under the government's current divesture plan for Air India," Bhatia said during a conference call to discuss the results for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 2018.

As per the memorandum, the government plans to sell 76 per cent stake and cede management control of Air India. Besides, sale of Air India Express and 50 per cent stake in AISATS -- an equal joint venture with Singapore Airlines -- would be part of the disinvestment process.

"We continue to look at long haul operations without Air India. We continue to seek route rights and other necessary regulatory approvals as may be required to operate long haul flights. We are also actively studying the choice of wide-bodied aircraft...," he said.

IndiGo's Chief Financial Officer Rohit Philip said there will be no change in business model with turbo prop operations and potentially wide-bodied operations. "The key is to have the right cost structure in each market ... In terms of the cost structure, we also have A 3,21s coming into our fleet this year. It has all the commonalities with A320s but it will have more seats. We will continue to manage our costs tightly and additional operations won't affect that," he noted.

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