In its Athens announcement, IndiGo gives a glimpse of its XLR product

The Friday before Diwali, IndiGo decided to have some fireworks on its own. The airline announced the conversion of MoU to firm orders for 30 A350-900 aircraft, signing a deal with Rolls-Royce for engine supplies to power the A350, and announced its flight schedule to Athens from both Delhi and Mumbai, with thrice-weekly services from each city.

IndiGo signed the MoU with Airbus and announced it on the sidelines of the IATA AGM held in Delhi in June. The agreement involved converting 30 of the 70 widebody options the airline held with Airbus.

Athens flights go on sale

The most interesting part of the announcement was the opening of ticket sales for flights to Athens on the XLR, an unspecified number of which IndiGo has on order. The airline pulled a coup of sorts by opening bookings, much like it did for London flights, less than a month from their first departure.

Indigo had earlier announced Athens as one of its destinations on the sidelines of the IATA event. However, Aegean Airlines decided to take up two airframes of A321XLR and announced flights to India starting in March.

IndiGo, since then, went into overdrive, signed an MoU with Aegean and opened its own flights for sale, ahead of Aegean, which had announced that its flights and schedule would be open for sale in September but has yet to see the light of day.

Glimpses of XLR

With Athens, Indigo will operate its longest route on its own metal. Its flights to Manchester, Copenhagen, London and Amsterdam currently use damp-leased Boeing B787s from Norse Atlantic.

IndiGo's XLR will feature 195 seats, 25 fewer than its dual-class A321neo. The layout includes 12 IndiGoStretch and 183 economy class seats with a 31-inch pitch.

For the first time, IndiGo will offer in-seat power supply and device holders in economy. Passengers can stream content on their own devices via Bluebox, the same provider behind the in-flight entertainment for Vistara and subsequently Air India. IndiGo had trialled this on select flights to Goa.

Hot meals and more

The biggest change is the introduction of complimentary hot meals, served with a selection of global and local beverages. While IndiGo offers complimentary meals on damp-leased widebody routes, it does not extend the same to other dual-class routes like Bangkok or Singapore.

Another difference is lounge access, which is currently available to IndiGoStretch customers on widebody flights. However, the airline has not (yet) announced similar access for Athens-bound passengers.

Vegetarian meals will be the default options, albeit with an option to pre-book non-vegetarian meals. Alcoholic beverages will be complimentary for IndiGoStretch customers and available for purchase in economy.

The hot meal service signals the introduction of ovens on IndiGo's own aircraft for the first time in history—a significant shift for an airline that resisted onboard ovens due to weight, service time, and maintenance. However, as IndiGo expands its international footprint, features once considered frills are becoming standard.

Mixed service models

IndiGo's long-haul strategy is still evolving, with multiple service models, complimentary meals, buy-on-board meals, and dual-class operations, possibly creating confusion for passengers.

This complexity has the potential to confuse the system and impact the experience, and the airline will have to execute this sharply more than ever.

Though the airline has not officially commented, it is largely believed that it shifted its long-haul hub to Mumbai due to Pakistani Airspace closures. With IndiGo announcing Athens flights from Delhi, the airline is either confident that the airspace will be available or trusts the range that XLR will offer.

Tail note

IndiGo will be the first Indian airline to induct the XLRs. Over the next few months, it plans to convert its flights to Bali from Mumbai and Delhi to nonstops using the XLRs. Currently, these flights are scheduled with technical stops at Chennai and Bhubaneswar, respectively.

How will Indian passengers react to the whole experience for a 7-9 hour journey in a narrowbody aircraft? We will know soon.

The author, Ameya Joshi, is an aviation analyst.