Launched in 2006 with the goal of bringing the low-cost airline model to the Indian market, the InterGlobe Aviation Limited airline more commonly referred to as IndiGo quickly grew to be the Indian subcontinent’s largest airline. It serves more passengers than any other airline in India.
Data from the local Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows that while Air India has just over 400 aircraft, the Delhi-based IndiGo owns or leases more than 900 Airbus (EADSF) . It also carried over 50 million passengers in the first half of 2024 compared to just the 10.5 million that flew with Air India.
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IndiGo is India’s largest airline by total passengers carried.
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Houston, Miami, Atlanta and LA: codeshare agreement allows for new connections
While IndiGo’s international flights are mostly to neighbors such as the United Arab Emirates, China and Azerbaijan, the low-cost carrier just announced a Turkish Airlines codeshare partnership that will allow it to run flights from Istanbul to four new U.S. cities: Houston, Miami, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
First partnering in 2018 to connect IndiGo to more European destinations served by Turkish Airlines, the partnership between the two airlines continued to expand. Over the last two years, the airline had already been able to fly to U.S. cities such as New York and Washington through the connection in Istanbul.
As a low-cost airline (which typically do not participate in codeshare agreements), IndiGo is also able to use its partnership with Turkish Airlines to connect with other airlines that are part of the Star Alliance network of which the latter is a member.
The airline network was founded by carriers such as United Airlines (UAL) , Air Canada (ACDVF) , Lufthansa (DLAKF) and SAS and eventually expanded to include 25 members, including Turkish Airlines, Air New Zealand (ANZFF) , Singapore Airlines (SINGF) and Aegean Airlines (AGZNF) .
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IndiGo is committed to expanding its network and connecting more people
“With our total connections to the U.S. now increasing to nine, we gladly offer even more avenues for business travelers, aspiring students as well as tourists and visiting friends and relatives,” IndiGo Head of Global Sales Vinay Malhotra said in a statement. “As we expand our global network and connect people with favoured destinations, we remain committed to delivering on our promise of providing affordable, on-time, courteous, and hassle-free travel experiences across our extensive network.”
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The new flights between Istanbul and the new U.S. cities will launch on Dec. 18, 2025 and bring the total number of destinations served by the airline to 43.
While the flights will run under the Turkish Airlines brand, low-cost carriers have increasingly been eying longer and longer routes for their new network plans.
In October, Oslo-based Norse Atlantic Airways (NRSAF) started running a 5,188-mile flight between London and Cape Town while EasyJet (EJTTF) followed suit with launching new flights from London’s Gatwick Airport to several new destinations in Egypt as well as Cabo Verde off the northwestern coast of the African continent.
The latter route comes up on the airline’s website at a range of £150 to £269 pounds ($190 – $314) for a one-way ticket while a similar flight on a mainstream airline is usually double that price.
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