India’s largest airline, IndiGo, has taken a decisive step in its international expansion roadmap by exercising its option to place additional orders for 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft in June 2025, effectively doubling its initial commitment to a wide-body fleet from 30 to 60 aircraft. The move allows IndiGo to claim a strategic share in the outbound long-haul market, which has traditionally been dominated by Gulf and Southeast Asian carriers, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s “Commercial Aircraft Orders and Deliveries” dashboard reveals that IndiGo is the largest buyer of commercial aircraft in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, with 1,300 aircraft orders placed between 2011 and 2024, followed by Air India, Jet Airways, Go Air, and Spicejet. The dashboard also indicates that IndiGo accounts for almost one-fourth of the total orders Airbus received from the Asia-Pacific region during the same period.
With the new order, IndiGo will also become the largest customer in India for Airbus wide-body aircraft, followed by Air India, which currently has an order for 50 aircraft in the same wide-body segment.
Sai Kiran, Aerospace and Defense Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The move reaffirms IndiGo’s long-term strategy to become a formidable global player in the commercial aviation sector. The additional order and growing international partnerships signify a paradigm shift in IndiGo’s positioning from a dominant low-cost domestic carrier to a serious contender in the full-service long-haul market.”
With a modern wide-body fleet and strong global partnerships, including an expanding international code-share ecosystem with Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic, IndiGo adds significant network depth and customer access across Europe and North America.
Kiran concludes: “Currently, Air India is the only Indian carrier operating wide-body long-haul services at scale. With the A350s and leased Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, IndiGo is emerging as the second player in the Indian wide-body market, enhancing India’s aviation competitiveness and offering more choices to the country’s flyers for international travel.
“Moreover, the A350s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, which offer 25% less fuel burn compared to old generation engines, making them more cost-effective than other aircraft, thereby creating real competition for legacy players like Air India.”
