(Reuters) – India’s top airline IndiGo said on Thursday it will damp lease a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner widebody jet from Norse Atlantic Airways, with operations starting in March, as part of its efforts to tap into long-haul routes.
In the damp lease agreement, Norse Atlantic will lease its plane, along with pilots, or flight crew, and maintenance services to IndiGo, which will provide cabin crew.
IndiGo had about 33 jets on damp lease agreements at the end of 2024, including two from Turkish Airlines and 12 from Qatar Airways.
The low-cost carrier will explore further opportunities to contract more aircraft from Norse Atlantic Airways, it said in a press release, without specifying if they would be on similar lease agreements.
Local business publications reported in December that IndiGo would lease about six 787s from Norse Atlantic, as it seeks to begin long-haul services before 2027, when the airline is expected to receive the first of 30 Airbus A350 widebody jets.
The airline is also expected to receive its first Airbus A321XLR aircraft in 2025, a single-aisle jet that is capable of flying non-stop from India to western Europe.
IndiGo wants to capture a larger slice of the international travel business from dominant Gulf airlines, whose one-stop routes are currently more popular among Indian travellers.
The airline currently flies to 38 international destinations and aims to add two more by end-March. It deploys about 28% of its capacity on international routes, spanning from Baku to Bali.
(This story has been corrected to say that Indigo had 33 damp lease agreements, not 14, in paragraph 3)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
