IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International) has announced it will start scheduled passenger flights to China towards the end of the current summer season.

The budget carrier said in a statement that it will offer daily return flights between Delhi International and Chengdu Shuangliu effective September 15, 2019.

“India is witnessing a much higher growth rate with respect to aviation and currently the India-China route is underserved by Indian carriers," William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said. "With our plan to operate non-stop daily flights to Chengdu we are providing the much-needed connectivity between the two destinations. China is a market with immense potential and holds prominent trade, cultural and tourism values. We hope to further strengthen this relation by announcing our entry into China.”

Aside from its extensive domestic Indian network, IndiGo already serves cities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thailand, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Turkey, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, and Singapore.

Earlier this week, the LCC's chief executive, Ronojoy Dutta, told CNBC-TV18 that IndiGo would be interested in acquiring Air India's international business if it can find a partner willing to buy its domestic operations. The Indian government is reportedly planning to refloat a tender for the loss-making national carrier after an earlier attempt in 2018 failed to garner any buyers.

With that said, Dutta warned that Indigo would take a very cautious approach to the induction of widebody aircraft by avoiding the errors that Jet Airways and Air India made.