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IndiGo: Going a Stretch Above

Shernaz Bodhanwala, Vedant Gupta

Product #:W41845
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Strategy
Setting:India, 2024
Details:Case (PDF) • 15 pages • 2025-04-09

Subjects:

Leadership and managing peopleManagement

Industries:

Transportation and distribution

Geography:

IndiaAsia
Your Price:$10.54

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In August 2024, InterGlobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo), the market leader and consistently the most profitable low-cost airline in India, announced its entry into a new customer segment, offering a business-class experience. IndiGo had initiated its journey in the highly competitive aviation industry by targeting price-sensitive travellers and offering a no-frills, on-time journey experience that the price-conscious Indian consumer much appreciated. IndiGo’s entry into the business-class segment and its rapid international expansion plan were efforts the airline had never before attempted. In the context of operational challenges that included the grounding of many aircraft due to engine issues, customer backlash over delays, and malfunctioning air conditioning systems, IndiGo needed to determine whether it was ready for this transition. Could it successfully balance its low-cost, high-efficiency approach with the growing demand for premium services?

Learning Objectives

The case can be used in marketing management, international business, and strategic management courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. It can also be used in a management development program for executives in these fields. The case provides data on shifting consumer preferences and can be used for discussing consumer segmentation, profiling, and targeting strategies in a marketing management course. In strategic management and international business courses, the case can be used to address strategic choices in expanding offerings to cater to diverse consumer needs, relevant in a globalized aviation context. The case can also be used in modules covering cross-border competition or market-specific adaptation. This case allows readers to understand the market timing, market sizing, and consumer-profiling strategy that IndiGo exercised to capture the growing affluent class in India. By working through the case and assignment questions, students will learn how to do the following:
  • Describe the structure and growth drivers in the airline industry.
  • Explain the process of customer segmentation and profiling.
  • Outline the differences between a full-service business model and the low-cost business model commonly used in the airline industry.
  • Perform a financial size-up of a company to determine a good time to expand to the premium class.
  • Apply Porter’s generic strategy framework.
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Case Study: IndiGo: Going a Stretch Above (English version) | Ivey Publishing