IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International) says it will codeshare with Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) to operate flights to the United States and Canada rather than wet-leasing additional aircraft. At the same time, the Indian LCC is also tempering talk of an aircraft order rumoured to be bigger than the recent Air India (AI, Delhi International) one.

India-based media reported late last week, quoting an unnamed official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), that IndiGo had been given the go-ahead to wet-lease two widebody aircraft for North American operations. The DGCA tightly controls the wet-leasing of aircraft by Indian carriers.

However, over the weekend, IndiGo hosed down those reports, saying its current preference is to codeshare with Turkish Airlines. "At present, our objective is to enable codeshare connectivity to the US and Canada via our partnership with Turkish Airlines after the required application and approval process," an IndiGo statement reads. IndiGo currently wet-leases a Turkish Airlines B777-300ER which it uses on the Delhi - Istanbul route.

Meanwhile, FlightGlobal is reporting that IndiGo is winding back talk of an aircraft order that would better Air India's recent 470-strong order. That is despite Reuters reporting on March 4 that IndiGo was in talks with Airbus and Boeing regarding an order for at least 500 aircraft. Last month, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also said that IndiGo was close to finalising an order for "several hundred planes" with Airbus.

Except for the wet-leased B777-300(ER) and thirty-nine ATR72-600s, IndiGo exclusively operates narrowbody Airbus aircraft. However, the airline is now reportedly considering a split between A320neo and B737MAX family aircraft. Talks have also "widened" to include either A330-900 or B787 mid-sized widebody jets in any order.

IndiGo is India's largest airline and enjoys a 55% market share in that country. While it has zero aircraft on order with Boeing, IndiGo still has 180 A320-200Ns and 308 A321-200Ns on order at Airbus. A further order for 500 aircraft would take the number of aircraft due to IndiGo to just under 1,000 planes.