IndiGo sees significant cargo opportunity on India-Europe routes

IndiGo sees significant opportunity for cargo movement between India and Europe as it launches its maiden service from Mumbai to Amsterdam and Manchester from July.

The airline will operate a wet leased Boeing 787 on the routes which can carry up to 18-20 tonnes of cargo in each direction.

“The opportunity for cargo for us is significant. It nicely coincides with the Make in India campaign which is becoming more and more prominent in terms of India becoming the global production hub,” IndiGo’s chief executive officer Pieter Elbers said in a post fourth quarter result conference call.

Indian airports handled over 3.7 million tonnes of cargo in FY25, a growth of 10.5 per cent over the previous year. While domestic freight traffic grew 5.6 per cent, international freight handled by airports rose by 13.7 per cent in the period.

Yet, the share of Indian carriers in overall international freight traffic from/to India is in single digits and Elbers believes the introduction of new European service will help in growing overall share of Indian carriers. “That will be our focus,” he said.

Growth in fleet, improved utilisation of freighters and international tie-ups has helped IndiGo grow its cargo business. The airline added 67 aircraft to its fleet (including wet leased planes) taking the total count to 434 as of March. Partnerships with Air France-KLM and FedEx have also helped grow traffic. The tie up with Air France-KLM would be particularly useful as IndiGo starts its flights to Amsterdam, which is the primary hub of KLM.

While Delhi was the first choice for launch of the European flights as it offers more onward connections, the airline opted for Mumbai after closure of Pakistan airspace for Indian carriers.

Elbers conceded that the airline’s connecting network in Mumbai is not as strong as compared to Delhi but there are some good connections to South India (from Mumbai) with traffic flows from Europe. “We made the evaluation and figured that it was a good way to start our operations,” he said.

IndiGo has leased one Boeing 787 aircraft from Norse Atlantic and expects to receive another five in second half of FY26. Elbers said with the Boeing 787 aircraft would allow the airline operations to Europe from any of its Indian hub and still has the time to finalise operations of remaining five aircraft.

Asked about brand awareness in Europe, Elbers said IndiGo gets customers from its code share partners Air France-KLM, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic on its domestic flights. “I am sure our competitive fares from Amsterdam and Manchester will stimulate demand from Europe into India and even beyond,” he added.