IndiGo to add a third ramp to help passengers get off from planes faster

IndiGo on Thursday announced it would disembark passengers from three doors of the plane, allowing the flyers to quickly get off the aircraft.

"The new three-point disembarkation process will be carried out from two forward and one rear exit ramp, making IndiGo the first airline in the world to use this process," the airline said in an statement.

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta told reporters at the Delhi airport that the three-point disembarkation will allow the airline to save five-six minutes, leading to quicker turnaround of planes.

"It generally takes 13-14 minutes to disembark an A321 aircraft with two-point disembarkation. With three point disembarkation, it will take just seven-eight minutes to let all passengers get off the plane," he noted.
 

The usual turnaround time, which is the time the plan spends on the tarmac between landing and taking off again, is anywhere between 30-35 minutes for IndiGo at the moment, Ramdas said.

His comments came a day after the company reported its highest ever quarterly revenue for the three months ended June 30, boosted by a 145% increase in capacity and a load factor, representing the percentage of seats filled, of about 80%.

Competition in India's aviation sector is heating up, with the launch of Akasa Air and a return of full-service carrier Jet Airways, though IndiGo's biggest rival SpiceJet Ltd is facing some turbulence after India's aviation regulator forced it to reduce its schedule by half.

The CEO said IndiGo will initially implement three-point disembarkation at three cities: Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi.

Gradually, the airline will expand it to all the stations, Dutta added.

IndiGo celebrated its 16th anniversary on Thursday.