DELHI- India’s largest airline by fleet and passenger numbers, IndiGo (6E), is on the verge of a significant international expansion. IndiGo is expected to launch daily nonstop flights from Delhi to London Heathrow, marking a strategic step in its long-haul ambitions. The plans to enter Heathrow must mostly come up from Mumbai as the departure point.
However, the current developments suggest that Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport would get these flights to Heathrow instead of Mumbai. The airline shall have Delhi as the primary hub for the long-haul operations.
This is part of the airline’s goal of positioning itself as a serious player on high-demand intercontinental routes, all while leveraging its expanding Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. But can this move of IndiGo to start flights from Delhi over Mumbai be feasible?
IndiGo’s first-ever long-haul flight to Manchester with B787-9 pushback at Mumbai Airport | Photo: IndiGoDelhi Left Out of IndiGo’s Expansion Plans?
Delhi’s airport is of growing importance as an aviation hub. IndiGo’s ambitious plans to connect Delhi to EU destinations using wide-body aircraft are currently being held back.
The airline had intended to operate these long-haul services from the national capital. With ongoing expansions like the revamped Terminal 1 and a 2030 target of 100 million passengers, Delhi is well-positioned to serve as IndiGo’s international gateway.
Delhi airport handled 73.6 million passengers in the 2024–25 fiscal year. The airport has recently seen massive infrastructure upgrades, including the Terminal 1 expansion that added capacity for an additional 40 million passengers annually. The airport targets to handle 100 million passengers by 2030.
Delhi could offer the scale and efficiency IndiGo needs for long-haul connectivity. Mumbai lacks the ability to offer capacity at the moment. Delhi can offer potentially higher volumes of passengers from over 100 domestic and international destinations. The route can also tap into rising India–UK travel demand, which surged by 20% in 2024.
Photo: avgeekwithlens/ Harsh TekriwalNavigating Geopolitical Headwinds
Political constraints and not infrastructure are grounding the airline’s vision. Instead, IndiGo had shifted its focus to launching these routes from Mumbai, which allow more efficient flight paths that avoid restricted airspace.
There was a strategic role Delhi was expected to play in IndiGo’s long-haul network. IndiGo’s expansion plans face another critical hurdle: the continued closure of Pakistani airspace. It forces Indian carriers to reroute flights over the Arabian Sea and increase fuel consumption by 10–15%.
These complications raise concerns around profitability and schedule reliability. The Boeing 787s, being fuel-efficient, can mitigate some of the impact, but the additional flying time could challenge the airline’s cost leadership model.
Photo: EurospotBottom Line
IndiGo is expected to confirm the final schedule and open bookings in the coming weeks. It is not yet known where IndiGo plans to start the flights from.
Nevertheless, Mumbai as a hub is also a very strong one for IndiGo. On the other hand, gaining and maintaining a daily slot at Heathrow is no small feat.
London will be the 3rd European destination for the airline after Amsterdam and Manchester. But Heathrow over Gatwick came as a shock, as most of us out here were expecting IndiGo to take the more cost-effective approach. It is surely a bold move to compete head-on with legacy full-service carriers.
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IndiGo Adds More Flights to its New Long-Haul Destinations with 787s
The post IndiGo Prepares for New London Heathrow Flights from October 2025 appeared first on Aviation A2Z.
