IndiGo CEO says aircraft shortage hobbling growth plans

A shortage of aircraft is hampering IndiGo airline operator Interglobe Aviation Ltd's efforts to ride a travel boom in India and globally, Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers said on Monday.

"There's an opportunity in the markets where we would like to serve our customers and we cannot do it yet to the extent we would like to do that," Elbers told Reuters in an interview, citing pressure from the shortage of aircraft supply.

India's aviation market is booming as demand for air travel picked up pace from the pandemic lows. However, given the global demand for new planes Boeing and Airbus are scrambling to meet the overflowing orderbook.

"A year ago, our operation in terms of size was probably half of where we were. So we have put all our emphasis in moving back to 1800 flights per day."

Read | IndiGo not happy with pressure from aircraft shortage

IndiGo has an orderbook of 500 aircraft, which would give the airline "a steady flow" of deliveries until the end of ths decade, Elbers said.

Aviation consultancy CAPA India has said it expects at least 1,300 more orders from Indian airlines in the next one to two years, weeks after Air India announced a record order for 470 jets.

IndiGo, which has until now been an exclusive buyer of narrow-body jets from Airbus, is in talks with Boeing , too, to smash Air India's record with an order for more than 500 passenger jets, industry sources told Reuters earlier this month.

The airline has so far ordered a total of 830 Airbus A320-family jets of which over 400 have yet to be delivered.

Elbers said the delivery trajectory of the A321 XLRs, Airbus' newest and largest narrowboy airliner, is "all work in progress".

"We haven't finalised that one yet".