IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International) has announced that it will add four A321-200(P2F) converted freighters, with the first delivery scheduled for the first half of 2022.
The Indian low-cost carrier said that it had already signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an undisclosed lessor for the first two A321-200s and was in the process of sourcing the other two aircraft. The narrowbodies will be converted for the airline by Elbe Flugzeugwerke, a joint venture of ST Engineering and Airbus.
IndiGo said that the deliveries of all four aircraft would conclude within a year of the first delivery, i.e. by mid-2023. It indicated that it remained open to adding more freighters in the future.
"IndiGo was already the largest carrier of cargo in domestic India before COVID-19, and we expect the market to continue to grow after the pandemic," Chief Executive Ronojoy Dutta said.
The airline underlined that the A321(P2F)s would be operationally well-integrated into its all-Airbus passenger fleet. According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the LCC currently operates eighty-seven A320-200s, 121 A320-200Ns, thirty-nine A321-200NXs, and twenty-six ATR72-600s. It has a further 570 A320neo Family aircraft on firm order from Airbus, making it the world's largest customer for the family, as well as a further twenty-four ATR72-600s from ATR - Avions de Transport Régional.
Rival LCC SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International) was active on the cargo market even before the pandemic. The airline's freighter fleet, excluding makeshift freighters, comprises three B737-700(BDSF)s and two B737-800(BCF)s. India's third large LCC, GoAir (Mumbai International), does not operate any freighters.
