Raising the Bar

The Indian Low Cost Carrier (LCC) IndiGo straddles the Indian market like a colossus with a domestic market share of over 60%, a fleet of over 380 aircraft and achieved the landmark of carrying 100 million passengers in 2023. Now in its 18th year of operations, the LCC operates approximately 2,000 daily flights to 88 destinations on over 400 domestic routes and 33 international cities on more than 100 routes. Having survived and thrived, despite the vicissitudes of India’s brutally competitive civil aviation sector, IndiGo is now making a shift away from its LCC roots with orders for widebody jetliners, introducing a Business Class offering in “IndiGo Stretch” and a new customer loyalty programme in “IndiGo BluChip.”

IndiGo’s senior management, realised very early, the importance of establishing a steady flow of well-trained, airline-oriented pilots to fuel its long-term growth plans. With air traffic in India expected to reach 300 million passengers by the end of the decade, sufficient availability of trained personnel is of critical importance to an airline like IndiGo, which is competing for talent with Tata-owned Air India (also includes Air India Express and Vistara) and the fast-growing LCC, Akasa Air. “IndiGo has a long-term visibility in terms of aircraft induction and growth plans. That helps us plan ahead to ensure a steady pool of well-trained pilots occupying the left seat and the right seat. i.e. Captains and co-pilots. All our cadets are hired as future captains with a timeline of four to five years to gain experience. Our training resources and curriculum are proactively geared towards that goal,” an IndiGo spokesperson told CAT over email. IndiGo also the distinction of having the highest number of women pilots globally.

Training at Scale

On an average, approximately 2,000 people undergo training each day at the airline’s training facilities for pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. While IndiGo carries out pilots’ training primarily in India across various locations, it also sources out pilots, globally. As part of IndiGo’s cadet pilot programme, the airline has access to end-to-end pilot training solutions at state-of-the-art training facilities in India and across the globe with modern glass cockpit training aircraft. These programs enable aspiring pilots to receive their initial Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and Airbus A320 Type Rating which has helped IndiGo build a steady talent pipeline to support its expansion plans. “Since inception in 2011 and under this network, we have selected over 1,400 cadets and as of March 2024, IndiGo has inducted 1,000 Cadets as Junior First Officers from this pipeline,” the spokesperson said.

future pilots from our Cadet Program. Furthermore, we continue to engage in partnerships with existing Indian training facilities and with Indian entrepreneurs to not only expand but setup new training facilities for training our future cadets within India,” the spokesperson added.

The five International FTOs partnered with the IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme are Skyborne Airline Academy, L3 Harris, NZICPA, Flight Training Adelaide, INSIGHT AVIATION. Two of which are located in the USA with one each in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In March this year, Skyborne signed a five-year contract extension with IndiGo to continue training its A320 First Officers. “Under the terms of the new contract Skyborne will train up to 100 cadets a year as part of the IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme. To date, Skyborne has trained 123 First Officers for India’s largest airline,” Rina Basu, Regional Director (Asia-Pacific), Skyborne informed CAT.

IndiGo is also the first Indian carrier to have completed Upset Prevention Recovery Training (UPRT) modules for all its pilots across fleets, ahead of the mandated schedule. All of its simulator instructors have also been trained to deliver Competency-Based Training and Assessment (CBTA). It is also the largest operator of ATR regional transport aircraft in India, having commenced operations with the type in 2017. To cater for its growing fleet of approximately 50 ATR72-600s, the carrier has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CAE Simulation Training Private Limited (CSTPL) to provide flight crew training on the type. [Editor’s note: See accompanying sidebar “Training as An Enabler for IndiGo’s ATR Fleet”].

Training to Perform

IndiGo’s also operates its own state-of-the-art learning academy ifly for cabin crew, with two facilities located in Gurugram and Bengaluru respectively. A further expansion into other Indian cities is also planned. The airline also intends to setup a new aviation training centre located next to the upcoming Noida international airport, in India’s National Capital Region (NCR). The ifly facilities feature modern classrooms equipped with the latest smart boards and cabin simulators (CEET) capable of simulating various door scenarios (door inoperative, slide does not deploy, fire, obstruction outside etc.).

A fire simulator that simulates fire and smoke conditions replicated as it would be inside an aircraft cabin provides practical training to cabin crew and pilots, who are also given real time experience of a ditching situation on an actual raft in a swimming pool to learn/ practice basics of survival at sea. IndiGo has introduced many new role-plays and practical demonstrations around door operations and CPR this year, for its cabin crew. “Another significant development is the introduction of Competency Based Training (CBT) for dangerous goods regulations for personnel including pilots and cabin crew. More such facilities are planned to come up in more cities shortly,” the spokesperson added.

Fleet Ramp Up

IndiGo’s fleet size of 382 aircraft (as of 30 June), comprises of A320neo/A321neos, A320ceos, A321 Freighters, ATR72-600s and two B777s (on damp lease). It has continuously made large aircraft orders, beginning with 100 (2005), 180 (2011), 250 (2015), 50 (2017), 310 (2019), 500 (2023) and 30 (2024); for a total of 1420 aircraft. It today has a firm pending orderbook of over 975 aircraft to be delivered at a frequency of more than one aircraft per week, that will grow its in-service fleet to over 600 aircraft by the end of the decade.

IndiGo is slated to begin taking deliveries of its A321XLRs from 2025, while deliveries of its newly ordered A350-900s will start in 2027. Commenting on the airlines twin-aisle A350 purchase and shift away from its single-aisle A320 strategy, IndiGo CEO, Pieter Elbers has said that while the aircraft differ in seating capacity and range; both feature the same Airbus philosophy in how they are designed, their cockpit layouts and how training is conducted.

IndiGo now operates on a scale hitherto unseen on any Indian airline. With nearly 1,000 aircraft still on order, it is working hard to ensure it has a sufficient pipeline of trained personnel that will enable the induction, operationalisation and maintenance of the aircraft it has on order, quickly and seamlessly. IndiGo has rarely had a misstep in 18 years of operations but its training pipeline and processes will be tested with its future plans to operate three aircraft types in the A350-900, A320neo/A321neo family and ATR 72-600s that will introduce fleet complexity; as also its decision to introduce a new Business Class product and customer loyalty programme, all of which at odds with its highly succesful LCC origins.

Want to learn how IndiGo is powering its ATR fleet’s success? Check out Marty Kauchak's latest article, "Training as An Enabler for IndiGo’s ATR Fleet," for an in-depth look.