What IndiGo and Ethiopian Say About the Rise of the Rest

Skift Take IndiGo and Ethiopian Airlines were built on workers, traders, students, and diaspora travel rather than tourism. Destinations that understand those flows will spend their money differently. IndiGo turned 20 this week, one day after a new chief executive arrived and days after the airline announced the end of its widebody operation. Ethiopian Airlines turned 80 in April and is helping fund what is planned to become Africa's largest airport. These are the two most consequential airlines to emerge from the Global South, and they were built in opposite ways. The Gulf giants, backed by sovereign wealth, are a separate story. IndiGo sits on top of one of the world's largest pools of new flyers. Ethiopian came from a country whose home market could never have supported an airline of its size and built one around geography instead. Together, they show that the rise of Global South aviation is less about countries getting richer and more about a few institutions that run better than their states. The Origin Carrier and the Junction Carrier IndiGo is a demand story. India is now the world's third-largest domestic aviation market, and