IndiGo Stretch completes a year: Here are the hits and misses

A year ago today, on its 18th birthday, IndiGo announced the launch of its business class product, IndiGoStretch, on a flight between Mumbai and Delhi. The airline had announced that it would put 45 aircraft into service by the end of December 2025 and operate 12 routes in the country with these aircraft. While it may remain on track to put 45 aircraft into service by next month, the company, which has failed to achieve this feat in current times due to supply chain shortfalls, has significantly changed its plans for 12 routes in the country. The airline had not revealed which 12 city pairs these would be, but since the focus is said to be on busiest and business routes, it is likely to be flights between the six metros, excluding short routes between Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai and Hyderabad and Chennai.

The airline currently offers Stretch service on the following routes: Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Bengaluru, Delhi-Hyderabad, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Kolkata and Mumbai-Kalkata. He also announced that Mumbai-Chennai will be added to the list soon.

But India’s largest airline has a long way to go when it comes to Stretch. According to data shared by aviation analytics company Cirium, after a year the product will account for only 0.6% of the total number of seats.

plan b

The airline stopped expanding its Stretch product in domestic sectors and instead began implementing the product in international sectors, starting from Bangkok to other markets such as Singapore, Dubai and Phuket. Obviously, the plan to deploy 45 aircraft on 12 routes remained on the backburner, and by the first anniversary only seven of the 12 aircraft were operational.

Driven by the response (or rather lack thereof) or the opportunity to get better at international flights, the airline readjusted its distribution. If aircraft production tracking sites are to be believed, the airline plans to add more than 45 aircraft featuring the Stretch product.

Stretching mismatch?

IndiGo has hired Dreamliners on lease from Norse Atlantic from March this year. Norse Atlantic’s 56 Premium Economy seats are branded as IndiGoStretch. Since the airline has introduced flights to Europe (Amsterdam, Manchester, Copenhagen, London), not only is the hard product different, but so is the experience. For example, passengers flying Stretch to its European network will have access to hot meals, lounge and alcohol, while those flying XLRs will also have access to hot meals, but passengers booked to destinations in ASEAN and the Gulf on Stretch will have to make do with cold meals as well as domestic flights.

While the airline offers lounge access to international passengers using its wide-body Stretch, it is not available on domestic or international flights on its metal. Compatibility will expand further with XLR induction later this year. At some point in time, this can lead to confusion in consumers’ minds about what exactly is included or excluded. IndiGo will have a long way to go to adjust its product and market mix, and will likely stabilize after 2027 when its own A350s enter service with a business-class product currently under development.

While IndiGo was putting its dual-class aircraft into service, Air India was trying to convert its two-class A320S into three classes, with a configuration similar to the old Vistara aircraft. The IndiGo Stretch induction comes at a time when Vistara has merged with Air India and has become the overnight capacity and frequency leader on two of the top routes in the country. IndiGo’s Stretch lags behind Air India’s local and regional business class, but fares are equally underwhelming as IndiGo fares position Stretch between Air India’s Premium Economy and Business class.

tail note

The airline operates 20 flights per week with Stretch on Dreamliners, 1,496 flights per week on its own metal, and 14,553 flights per week on A321neo with Stretch, and 14,553 flights per week on mono-class aircraft consisting of A320 and A321 aircraft. The airline has a long way to go to make its offering premium.

While business class also helps sell codeshare flights, providing better service to codeshare passengers connecting to domestic IndiGo flights, will having more planes and routes offer Stretch as well? If so, is there potential to offer a smaller cabin with Stretch? With 12 seats in the forward cabin, IndiGo offers more Business class seats compared to the standard Air India A320neo, which is configured with eight Business class seats.

Author Ameya Joshi is an aviation analyst.