New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS): Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Monday said that it expects to get 20 turbo-prop ATR aircraft from early 2019 and that they will be utlised to expand the airline's domestic network.

"We expect to get 20 ATRs by January 2019," IndiGo's President and Whole Time Director Aditya Ghosh told shareholders here at the company's annual general meeting.

The airline, during the recent Paris Airshow, had announced that it will acquire up to 50 ATRs at a cost of over $1 billion. At present, the airline operates Airbus A320 aircraft.

On the engine-related problems issue faced by the airline's A320neo type of aircraft, Ghosh said that the engine supplier P&W is in the process of making design changes which are expected to be implemented in the next 12-18 months.

The airline had earlier clarified that only eight of its A320neo aircraft have been grounded since April 2017 and that it has factored in the absence of these aircraft in the revised schedule which was finalised in June.