PTI

New Delhi, Jun 22: Low-cost start-up carrier IndiGo is set to take off with its maiden flight in August and the carrier is aiming to break even within 18 months of its flights being operational.

"By July last week our first plane will arrive and we expect to start our maiden flight by the first week of August," the IndiGo President and CEO, Bruce Ashby, told media.

He said the airline would add one aircraft every month and by the end of December this year, it would have six planes.

Ashby said the airlines had not yet finalised the flight routes to be operated but is looking at "serving Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Imphal, Pune, Hyderabad, Srinagar and Jammu" with its first four aircraft.

Explaining the airline's aircraft acquisition plans, he said IndiGo will have 15 aircraft by 2007, which will go up to 23 by the end of 2008, adding all the aircraft will be from the Airbus A320 family.

The airline had stunned the aviation industry by placing orders for 100 aircraft at a list price of over $6 billion last year.

Sounding bullish on the Indian aviation sector, Ashby said IndiGo, which will be positioned as "not too expensive, not too cheap" airlines was targetting to have about 7-8 departures a day with 70-80 per cent of full capacity.

"Normally, airlines like us take 18 months to break even. So when we have 15-20 aircraft operating within the time frame, we should be able to break even," he said, adding the airlines had so far put in Rs 80-100 crore on the venture.