IndiGo Prioritizes Partnerships, Not Alliances for International Expansion

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) Preparing to expand its international operations with long-haul flights, IndiGo will be focusing on expanding partnerships with overseas carriers and joining an airline alliance is not a priority.

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the airline works with different partners in different countries.

"Some of the partners are of SkyTeam, some are of Star Alliance, that is not so relevant for us... these partnerships have different roles and functions in the network... we will expand these partnerships, have more codeshares, reciprocal codeshares and we will further build on these partnerships.

"(Airline) Alliance is not a priority at this point of time," he told PTI on Tuesday.

He was responding to a query on whether IndiGo will be looking to join an airline alliance.

Currently, IndiGo has codeshare partnerships with nine airlines -- Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, American Airlines, Air France, KLM, Qantas Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Malaysia Airlines, British Airways and Japan Airlines.

The domestic carrier also has an interline agreement with JetStar.

Generally, a codeshare partnership allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carrier and there will be a single ticket. Under an interline arrangement, an airline issues and accepts tickets for flights operated by the partner carrier and the passenger will have a single itinerary but different tickets.

Earlier this month, IndiGo said it will start non-stop long-haul flights to Manchester and Amsterdam with the leased Boeing 787-9 planes from July this year.

The carrier is also evaluating multiple markets in Europe for long-haul flights.

Currently, IndiGo has a fleet of more than 400 planes and 925 aircraft are on order.

Meanwhile, to a question about Delhi airport operator DIAL's proposed variable tariffs, Elbers said it is under discussion and did not elaborate.

However, he said that it is very important to keep a close eye on the overall cost levels considering the cost-competitive nature of the Indian market.

"Given that it is a cost competitive and price sensitive market, effective cost levels are important," he noted.

He spoke on the sidelines of a conference.