In a pivot away from its all-economy cabin, IndiGo unveiled a tailor-made business-class product called “IndiGoStretch”, which will roll out on its flights from mid-November for metro-to-metro flights.

The new product essentially includes seats with advanced comfort, enhanced legroom and a holder for electronic devices. These will be added to the A321 neo aircraft joining the fleet. Each aircraft will include 12 of these seats and have two instead of three seats on both sides of the aisle in a total of three rows.

Passengers flying to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata will be able to avail this product.

The airline’s co-founder Rahul Bhatia told The Hindu that the launch will bring affordable business class travel to Indian air travellers on domestic flights. “IndiGo democratised travel and economy class. We are doing exactly the same, but with a stretched product. Indian customers deserve choice. We believe at IndiGo that it is our responsibility to provide that choice. Aspirations of Indians and their needs are changing and we have to address that,” said Mr Bhatia.

In an attempt to address concerns over IndiGo shifting from its low-cost structure by adding complexity to its single-type fleet, the co-founder said, “while adding complexity brings additional costs, if the rewards of such complexity outweigh the cost, then introducing complexity in a thoughtful and meaningful manner should be a no brainer,” underlining that it will continue to fiercely hold on to its age old mantra of structural cost leadership.

In his maiden comments on the airline virtually announcing plans for long-haul international travel by placing an order for widebody planes through an order of 30 A350s which will join the airline from 2027, Mr Bhatia said referring to Air India that only one long haul carrier for India was unsustainable. Taking a punch at foreign carriers he said, “much of the international traffic is being exported to other carriers who reside outside the country. I think it is critical upon us and Air India to bring that economic growth back into the country.”