IndiGo on Wednesday took the delivery of first of the 40 A321 XLRs on order. 

The longest narrow-body aircraft will allow the airline to fly further than its current fleet of A320 aircraft allows, though it has started flying to 4 European destinations with Boeing 787 aircraft borrowed from Norse Atlantic and also has Boeing 777 borrowed (or wet-leased) from Turkish Airlines used to fly to Istanbul.

Nine A321 XLRs will be inducted in calendar year 2026 and deployed on existing routes such as Denpasar and Istanbul. Thereafter new routes in East Asia and Europe. 

IndiGo is also required to surrender Turkish wet-leased (where aircraft and crew are leased) aircraft, as per a DGCA directive that are used to fly to Istanbul. 

The airline is grappling with public image issues emanating from 5000 cancelled flights last month, which has also made it a subject of government and Parliamentary scrutiny.