Elbers did, however, remark on the company’s quarterly earnings call that it is in contact with airports to temporarily provide them with GoFirst slots.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline, has told CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan in an exclusive interview that it has no plans to invest in NCLT-accredited peer GoFirst.
Elbers stated that their present focus is on creating their own business. “Again, I am not reacting to any rumours (On the GoFirst stake) – but IndiGo is focusing on developing our own company,” Elbers said, adding that the airline had placed orders for roughly 1,000 planes that have yet to be delivered.
“So we are in a strong position to build our company and our brands, and that is really our focus going forward,” said IndiGo CEO.
Elbers did, however, remark on the company’s quarterly earnings call that it is in contact with airports to temporarily provide them with GoFirst slots.
Go First, marketed by the Wadia Group, is currently in insolvency proceedings, with the National Company Law Tribunal resuming hearings on August 7. Due to operational concerns and future modifications, it has paused services until August 3. The airline hopes to resume restricted flights on specific routes.
Through codeshare agreements with local airlines, IndiGo has expanded its overseas operations. It now flies to 34 European destinations in collaboration with Turkish Airlines. Elbers also indicated that US codeshares are doing well with Istanbul connections. With over 500 routes, the airline today connects over 110 locations.
IndiGo will also begin flights from Mumbai to Nairobi later this week, marking the airline’s first venture into the African continent. Direct flights from Mumbai to Jakarta, as well as Delhi to Tbilisi, Almaty, and Tashkent, will commence this week. “And with that, you can see that our relative share of available seat kilometers is moving from the low 20s to 30 percent of our network,” Elbers explained.
However, Elbers told CNBC-TV18 that, despite IndiGo’s expanding international market share, the home market remained its base and backbone. Elbers announced that Shivamogga, Karnataka, will be the airline’s 79th domestic destination. Since the outbreak, IndiGo has introduced approximately 200 more routes.
“We connected Delhi and Dharamshala earlier this year.” Now we’re not only connecting Delhi to Dharamshala, but it’s also connecting Delhi to a variety of other locations. So our domestic strategy will continue to increase destinations and, more importantly, routes,” he said.
