JOIN USLow-cost carrier IndiGo on Friday took delivery of first of its 50 ATR aircraft in Toulouse, France.
The airline now expects to add seven ATR 72-600 aircract by March 2018 to speed up its regional connectivity plans. The aircraft was received on behalf of IndiGo by IndiGo Vice President (Flight Operations) Ashim Mittra.
"IndiGo will substantially expand its regional footprint in India effective December 21, 2017, with its new fleet of ATR aircraft," an airline statement said.
IndiGo President and Whole Time Director Aditya Ghosh said, "We are now one step closer to the launch of our Turboprop operations by the end of this year. The teams have put in a lot of hard work in order to launch our regional operations within a relatively short period of time... actually in just nine months."
The airline had announced its plans to buy 50 ATR turboprop planes with an aim to tap the regional aviation market. The deal could run into $1.3 billion at list price.
Last month, IndiGo said it plans to further strengthen its regional operations with over 90 new flight connections that include routes to and from Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Madurai and Nagpur.
The induction of ATR is in sync with IndiGo's plans for regional aviation and in response to the growing demand on its existing routes, the statement said.
ATR Chief Executive Officer Christian Scherer said, "India's rapidly expanding domestic market represented close to 100 million passengers last year, and has been steadily growing by more than 20% annually. As the country is expected to become the world's third largest market by 2020, we are proud of playing a key role in such an expansion of the air connectivity."