IndiGo is considering an order for regional aircraft as it builds out a connecting hub at Delhi, a move that would break with the Airbus A320-family monoculture that has underpinned the airline's rise to the top of the Indian market.

The carrier has built its position on high-frequency narrowbody operations, and any decision to add smaller regional types would mark a structural shift in how it deploys capacity. The deliberations are tied to IndiGo's plan to develop Delhi as a hub, where waves of short-haul arrivals and departures would feed connections across its network.

That model has a direct arithmetic logic. Feeder sectors into a hub are typically too thin to fill 180-plus-seat A320neos at viable frequencies. A regional type in the 70- to 100-seat class would let IndiGo serve smaller cities and thinner routes with more daily rotations, strengthening the connecting banks that a hub strategy requires.

The aircraft in play span the established regional contenders. ATR, whose A42-600 and A72-600 turboprops already dominate India's regional turboprop fleet through other operators, offers low trip costs on short sectors. Embraer's E175 and E190-E2 families and Mitsubishi's SpaceJet programme — should it reach the market — provide jet speed and longer stage lengths in the sub-100-seat bracket. Any order would also carry a training, maintenance and spares footprint, a significant cost consideration for an operator that has until now concentrated on a single fleet family.

The Delhi hub plan itself has capacity implications beyond the fleet decision. Slot-constrained Indian metros have historically limited connection-building; structuring banks at Delhi would let IndiGo capture transit traffic it currently leaves to itself point-to-point, and would position the airline against the connecting traffic that Gulf and Southeast Asian carriers draw from Indian secondary cities.

No order has been placed, no manufacturer has been selected and no timeline has been disclosed. IndiGo's existing backlog of A320neo-family aircraft remains the backbone of its expansion, and a regional order would supplement rather than replace it.

An IndiGo move into the regional segment would carry consequences for the OEMs. India is the fastest-growing major aviation market, and a commitment from its largest operator — even a modest initial tranche — would hand the winning manufacturer a reference customer in a market where regional aircraft penetration remains low relative to the country's city pair potential.

For now, the evaluation is at the study stage. Whether it converts into a firm order, and at what size, will signal how far IndiGo intends to push beyond the low-cost point-to-point model that made it India's dominant carrier, and how quickly it intends to build Delhi into a genuine connecting hub.