IndiGo grows global routes, keeps domestic cargo strong

In an interview with The STAT Trade Times during the Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) annual conclave 2025 in New Delhi, India, Mark Sutch, Head of International Development and Chief Commercial Officer – Cargo at IndiGo, emphasised that narrowbody domestic belly cargo remains the backbone of IndiGo Cargo’s operations, accounting for 85% of the airline’s total cargo volumes.

While the airline is expanding its reach with new long-haul widebody flights to Europe, its extensive domestic network continues to anchor its cargo strategy. At present, international cargo contributes around 11% to IndiGo’s total cargo volumes. "Looking at our growth last fiscal, we grew from 350,000 to 400,000 tonnes," Sutch noted.

IndiGo will end its Boeing 777-300ER flights to Istanbul from Delhi and Mumbai by August 31, 2025. The airline had wet-leased two Boeing 777 aircraft from Turkish Airlines in 2023 to maintain connectivity to Istanbul amid a significant grounding of its Airbus A320neo fleet due to Pratt & Whitney engine issues, and the technical limitations of operating its own narrowbody A321 aircraft on the long-haul route. The decision to terminate the wet-lease agreement follows a directive from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which granted a final three-month extension but refused to renew the lease beyond August, citing national security concerns.

Speaking about the future of domestic flows, Sutch said new opportunities are emerging to develop direct point-to-point cargo connections in smaller cities. By building these routes, IndiGo aims to reduce its dependence on major hubs and help fill underused belly space on domestic sectors, tapping into fresh demand in India’s tier-two and tier-three cities.

On the international front, IndiGo launched its first direct long-haul widebody flight from Mumbai to Manchester and Amsterdam from July 1, and July 2, 2025 respectively. The airline has leased six Boeing 787s from Norse Atlantic, with one aircraft in service and more joining later this year. Sutch confirmed that IndiGo’s expansion into long-haul markets will open up significant belly cargo capacity and that the airline plans to expand further into Europe with Copenhagen and London as the next destinations by mid-October this year.

Explaining the scale of IndiGo’s upcoming widebody operations, Sutch noted that IndiGo will begin inducting the Airbus A350 in early 2028, following a firm order for 30 aircraft placed in April 2024 and a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 30 more, announced during the International Air Transport Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) held recently in Delhi.

“This is just a taste of what’s to come in IndiGo,” Sutch said, describing how modern aircraft like the B787 and A350 can serve as “small freighters in the air” and open up huge opportunities for the airline’s cargo business. He added that while some aircraft types, such as the A321XLR, are unlikely to add meaningful cargo capacity, the widebody fleet will enable IndiGo to take its international cargo operations to the next level. IndiGo has ordered 69 Airbus A321XLR aircraft, the extra-long-range variant of the A321neo, which will allow it to launch direct flights to Europe, the Far East, and Australia. The first aircraft is expected to join the fleet by the end of this year after delays.

He underlined that building the right cargo products will be critical. IndiGo is still relatively young in specialised cargo offerings and is working to enhance its capabilities, especially in areas like temperature-controlled pharma shipments. “What I'm not going to do, and I've said this to the team, I'm not going to promise something and not be able to deliver it because you're dealing with people's cargoes here,” Sutch said, adding that IndiGo will develop robust cargo products before offering them to the market.

Commenting on India’s broader air cargo growth story, Sutch said the government’s target of achieving 10 million tonnes of annual cargo throughput by 2030 is ‘stretched’. He noted that while the goal is ambitious, it is achievable if key challenges are addressed. He also observed that Indian airports may already have the built capacity to handle such volumes.

He pointed out that India’s main constraint is not capacity but how that capacity is spread across multiple hubs instead of being concentrated like in Dubai, Hong Kong or Incheon, which are efficient and large single-hub operations. “I get it,” he said, explaining that comparing India directly with them misses the point of the country’s size and scale.

“Between Mumbai and Delhi you already have 70% of India’s air cargo, so naturally it makes sense for three or four key hubs to lead." He emphasised that India should strengthen these three or four well-developed airports for transshipment and international connectivity. "But I think we have to be realistic and say that we can't have ten hubs,” he added. He sees an opportunity in India’s growth but cautioned that it cannot be expected to replicate a single-hub model.

Sutch also emphasised that regulatory consistency is critical for shippers. He said that differences in how customs rules are interpreted at different airports often push exporters and forwarders to favour certain gateways over others, making the system uneven. Without more uniform processes and clearer rules, India risks underutilising its growing airport infrastructure and its expanding fleet capacity. Sutch said that India’s edge lies in moving up the value chain with high-value exports that justify airfreight, but this can only succeed if processes are reliable and hubs are well-planned to handle future volumes.

Sutch joined IndiGo in March 2023 as Chief Commercial Officer of CarGo. Earlier this year, he was also given the additional responsibility of leading IndiGo’s international long-haul, widebody expansion.