Photo: Shutterstock The Indian low-cost airline IndiGo announced today, March 6, 2025, that it has chosen Amsterdam (AMS) and Manchester (MAN) as its first two destinations in Western Europe.
The two new routes will start operating in July three times a week on Boeing 787-9 aircraft leased from Norse Atlantic Airways.
The first of these leased Dreamliner aircraft entered service with IndiGo on March 1, 2025, and has already begun operating on the route between Delhi (DEL) and Bangkok (BKK). Three more leased B787-9 aircraft from Norse Atlantic Airways are expected to join IndiGo's fleet before the end of 2025.
While the launch of the Amsterdam route was anticipated, the addition of Manchester to the company’s route network is quite surprising, as it was not among the airports where IndiGo began recruiting staff.
In January 2025, the Indian airline reported that it was looking for station managers for three airports in Europe: London-Heathrow (LHR), Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), and Amsterdam-Schiphol (AMS).
So far, the only route of IndiGo to the European continent was the route to Istanbul (IST), operated in partnership with Turkish Airlines with two Boeing 777 aircraft, which were also leased from the Turkish flag carrier. In Istanbul, passengers of the Indian airline can connect to the Turkish company’s European network through codeshare services.
The European network of IndiGo is expected to continue to grow. The airline has 30 wide-body Airbus A350-900 and 69 narrow-body A321XLR aircraft on order, which will enable connections from India to a wide range of destinations in Europe.
