Expanding Horizons: IndiGo In Talks To Fast-Track Aircraft Rentals To Early Next Year
The airline is exploring induction of wide-body, long-range aircraft to its fleet as early as February 2025, sources say.
India's largest carrier, IndiGo, is considering advancing its aircraft rental agreements to as early as February next year in a bid to capitalise on the surge in international travel. This move is in sync with the airline's broader plans to enter European destinations, competing with rival Air India.
"IndiGo will be giving wings not just to India, but soon to the world with XLRs coming in next year," Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers told NDTV Profit in a statement.
Sources aware of the plans told NDTV Profit that the airline is in talks to wet lease six Boeing 787s from Norwegian carrier Norse Atlantic and deploy them for its network from February 2025. Currently, IndiGo has 24 aircraft on wet lease, two of which are Boeing 777 wide-body planes leased from Turkish Airlines. They are being used on India-Istanbul routes. Overall, it has over 400 planes in its fleet.
Under a wet-lease agreement, the lessor supplies aircraft along with crew. With these aircraft from Norway, IndiGo plans to foray into popular international routes such as London and Paris, sources said.
Additionally, IndiGo announced the order for 30 wide-body Airbus A350-900 aircraft in April, with deliveries starting in 2027, alongside 69 A321XLR aircraft that are expected to arrive in 2025, marking a major shift in its strategy that largely focused on all-economy operations. However, the airline now says it won’t wait till 2027 to add these planes. Air India, on the other hand, already operates long-range flights to far-flung destinations in Europe, North America, and Australia using wide-body planes.
"In order to address the growing demand for international travel to and from India, and in keeping also in mind global supply chain challenges, IndiGo is exploring interim solutions for an earlier introduction of long-range aircraft to its fleet," the airline said in a separate statement. "Route and network opportunities related to these solutions are being explored at present. IndiGo is committed to constantly evolve to provide its customers an alternate and differentiated travel experience."
Capacity Constraints
To help carriers tide over capacity shortages after supply from Boeing and Airbus slowed, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has revised norms allowing airlines to rent planes for up to 18 months. Specifically, they can wet-lease for 12 months, with the option to extend for an additional six months. Previously, the wet lease duration was six months, extendable for another six months.
"A one-time extension of up to six months in the duration of a wet/damp lease [of a foreign-registered aircraft by an Indian airline] can be considered on a case-to-case basis," reads the DGCA circular.
The current rules don't permit airlines to use wet-leased planes on new routes. However, the government may soon allow airlines to operate wet-leased wide-body planes for these routes.
"Leasing is typically a short-term measure to meet higher demand," said an official. "But we are evaluating a proposal to allow using wet-leased aircraft for new international routes given the supply of aircraft is significantly trailing behind demand due to engine issues and delays in delivery."
The new norms are expected to not only help airlines expand capacity beyond borders but also curb the rise in airfares resulting from a shortage of aircraft in the domestic market.
IndiGo currently has about 60-70 aircraft on the ground due to defects in the Pratt and Whitney engines. In October, Elbers had said that the airline managed to reduce the number of groundings from the peak of over 70 aircraft, and it expects to have a little less than 50 planes grounded by March 2025.
