Indian Carrier IndiGo Inks Partnership With Air France-KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic

A new airline partnership could shake things up in a big way in the future: IndiGo, the rapidly expanding Indian carrier you may have never heard of, announced that it would form a partnership with Air France-KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know.

IndiGo To Partner With Major SkyTeam Carriers

IndiGo is one of the world’s fastest-growing carriers, though you may not know it because it has focused primarily on offering domestic flights within India and international flights within the region.

However, that’s all set to change in a big way. The carrier is set to expand internationally with flights to Europe coming soon. To achieve this, IndiGo has ordered up to 100 Airbus A350 jets that will begin to be delivered in 2027 and plans to use leased Boeing 787 Dreamliners for its long-haul flights in the meantime.

The other big piece of this plan has come into focus with the announcement of a partnership with Air France-KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic, all members of the SkyTeam joint venture agreement covering transatlantic flights.

“We are particularly excited to start our long-haul expansion from this summer and connect with our partners’ networks to provide greater access to Europe and North America. This strategic partnership enables a compelling combined customer proposition in the form of comprehensive intercontinental connectivity, seamless experience, and great loyalty value. It also lays the groundwork for us to exchange best practices in [the] areas of technology, operational excellence, and service delivery,” said Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo.

IndiGo already has partnerships with Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic, but adding Delta to the fold is a big deal. It will allow for more seamless connections between North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and India.

After securing all necessary government approvals, IndiGo will be able to sell partner flights directly and place its 6E flight code on select flights operated by partners, including KLM flights between Amsterdam (AMS) and 30 European destinations, Delta and KLM flights to the U.S. and Canada, and Virgin Atlantic flights between Manchester (MAN) and the U.S. Additionally, Air France-KLM will sell tickets on IndiGo flights to 25 destinations from Hyderabad (HYD), which will be linked to Amsterdam with nonstop flights on KLM come September.

The press release states that the partnership could expand in the future and specifically mentions “commercial cooperation” concerning loyalty programs. While we don’t know any details of that aspect yet, it’s reasonable to expect it to come in the not-too-distant future.

Delta Will Resume Nonstop Service to India

Also mentioned in this partnership announcement is Delta’s intention to resume nonstop flights to India, with a route between Atlanta (ATL) and Delhi, though a start date was not given. Delta last served India nonstop with its route between New York (JFK) and Mumbai (BOM) in 2019, but the route was canceled due to the pandemic. That caused Delta to get rid of its fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft, which was the only aircraft it had for serving the route.

We will certainly report back when we hear more regarding the start date of Delta’s planned Atlanta-Delhi service.

Final Thoughts

India is the world’s most populous nation and has the fastest-growing commercial aviation market. However, there haven’t been any significant, global airline partnerships involving the subcontinent until now. That’s all changing with the new partnership between IndiGo, Air France-KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic.

We’re only at the beginning of this new partnership, and we feel there will be much more news to report in the coming months and years as it matures.