IndiGo announced on September 15, 2025, that Athens (ATH) will be the first destination in Europe to be served by its new Airbus A321XLR narrowbody, long-range aircraft.
The Indian low-cost carrier is awaiting the delivery of the first aircraft of this type, of which it has 69 on order, towards the end of 2025 and expects to launch the new service in early 2026.
The Greek capital will see six weekly nonstop frequencies to India, three each from Mumbai (BOM) and Delhi (DEL).
IndiGo’s A321XLR will be fitted with 195 seats, 12 of which will be “Stretch” business class seats and the other 183 in economy class.
On the same day that the new route was announced, IndiGo also signed a codeshare partnership with Aegean Airlines.
The Greek carrier is also planning to launch its own nonstop services between Athens and Mumbai and Delhi from March 2026 using A321XLR aircraft configured on a low-density, two-class configuration for 134 passengers (24 in business and 114 in economy class).
Through this codeshare agreement, both airlines will facilitate connectivity between their networks in Europe and Asia, respectively.
It was widely expected in the industry (and confirmed by IndiGo’s CEO Pieter Elbers in an interview with AeroTime) that Athens would be among the first destinations that the new A321XLR aircraft would be deployed to.
After the Greek capital, IndiGo’s A321XLR aircraft will likely serve other destinations in southeastern Europe.
Earlier in 2025, IndiGo expanded its European footprint beyond Istanbul with the launch of flights to Amsterdam-Schiphol (AMS) and Manchester (MAN), albeit with Boeing 787-9 aircraft damp-leased from Norse Atlantic Airways.
Before the launch of flights to Athens, IndiGo will launch another European service to London-Heathrow (LHR). These flights will start in October 2025 and will also be served with Dreamliners.
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