Edition 59
This week was all about IndiGo’s foray into a new class of service, named “IndiGoStretch”. This will be the first time that IndIGo will offer a dual class of service. Touted as a business class product, the offerings are significantly lower than business class offerings of competition. The airline has been cautious too, restricting it to busiest and business routes and to 45 aircraft, which is roughly 10% of its total fleet when all 45 are inducted by end of 2025.
For an airline which focused on simplicity all along, this is a complex decision. When the first A320neo landed in March 2016, the airline decided to opt for 180 seats instead of 186 seats which Airbus offered in the neo with the new cabin layout. Why? Simplicity! Slowly, the thought process changed. It added much value for the shareholder, as the focus shifted towards more seats, lower CASK and so on. After all, this is in line with the Low Cost Carrier philosophy.
Then suddenly, post-pandemic started the talk about a loyalty program. For a long time, IndiGo’s loyalty program was “low fares on offer”. As the airline grew, the focus shifted on higher revenue, higher fares, more connectivity and a multi-hub focused network. What got you here, won’t get you there and IndiGoStretch may give that jump towards the next step.
With the loyalty program, came a new class of service. It may not offer a lounge or meals in bone china cutlery, but what has been difficult to digest (only figuratively, not literally) is the lack of non-vegetarian options for the meals. The airline is open to selling Non-Veg but when it comes to offering the meal, it’s only Veg in the front cabin? The answer could lie in simplicity. Offering meals with two options could mean having nearly 24 meals for 12 seats. Most airlines don’t carry double the options but a significant number more than passengers on board.
IndiGo, in its efforts to control costs and wastage, shifted to offering fresh foods only for pre-booking with buy-on-board options being those with long shelf life like nuts, cookies or pour water to cook offerings. With a vegetarian option on offer, IndiGo can carry exactly the same number of meals as the passengers. Prima facie, it sounds very unfair for the passengers – who have the option of booking a sandwich, which isn’t complementary.
Will this strategy bode well? Not just the meals, the entire package will see some tweaks based on feedback as the way forward is my measured guess. The action shifts largely to 2025 now. 2023 was about orders, 2024 about product, 2025 will be about variety – from IndiGoStretch to XLRs.
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