It seems that with higher fuel bills and restricted routes, IndiGo has had to make some hard decisions with its network, with them planning to return one of the leased Boeing 787-9s it operates to Norse Atlantic Airways.
Routes that will be impacted by the aircraft return are Mumbai to Manchester and Mumbai to Copenhagen. Sales on the Copenhagen route ceased some time ago, whilst the Manchester route will see services appearing to end in August.
The aircraft will be redelivered to Norse Atlantic on 31 August 2026.
IndiGo will continue to operate all its remaining aircraft leased from Norse Atlantic as planned. At its peak, six Boeing 787-9 aircraft were leased. This will be reduced to five aircraft.
As for the returned aircraft, Norse Atlantic Airways has work awaiting it – the aircraft will be deployed by the airline in its upcoming winter program for direct flights between Europe and Thailand.
In Quotes
Eivind Roald, CEO of Norse Atlantic, said:
“With the additional aircraft, we look forward to deploying extra capacity on our successful and profitable Thailand routes. We also continue to strengthen our strong partnership with IndiGo and have jointly initiated a strategic collaboration project to assess new and deeper cooperation”
Abhijit Dasgupta, Senior Vice President – Network Planning & Revenue Management, IndiGo, said:
“We inducted these leased wide-body aircraft to fast-track our connectivity to high potential long-haul destinations such as Manchester and witnessed very encouraging demand response. It is, therefore, unfortunate that longer flying times due to airspace constraints combined with dramatically escalating costs compelled us to take the decision to discontinue India – Manchester services. The response and support for these services have reinforced our belief in the opportunity for IndiGo’s long-haul ambitions, and we are convinced that this discontinuation is temporary. We look forward to serving this route again at the earliest viable opportunity and are exploring innovative solutions to continuing our collaboration with Norse Atlantic Airways.”
Combined factors are never a good thing
IndiGo continues long-haul operations with its Boeing 787-9 fleet from Mumbai to London Heathrow and Amsterdam, as well as flights from Delhi to London Heathrow and Manchester.
However, the combination of airspace closures, high fuel prices and diversions has not worked in IndiGo’s favour at this time.
It’s part of the learning curve of running operations and in some cases, thankfully, on someone else’s equipment as IndiGo learns about the forbouls of running a long-haul international operation.
Especially considering who is joining the airline in August as the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, there could be some very interesting times ahead.
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