DELHI- India’s largest Low-Cost Carrier, IndiGo Airlines (6E) is leasing more Boeing 737 MAX aircraft due to the grounding of its mainstream Airbus fleet.
Recently, a Gurugram-based airline inducted two Boeing 737 MAX 8s on a wet lease from Cordendon Airlines (XC). Many of you will be familiar with the name, Corendon, a Turkish leisure carrier that mainly operates a diverse narrowbody fleet.
IndiGo Wet Lease 737 MAX
According to reports, Cordendon Airlines has leased two 737 MAX 8 aircraft registered as TC-MKC and TC-MKD and they arrived in India on December 8-9, 2024.
A wet lease is a contract between carriers where the lessor operates a plane under its own AOC. The lessor supplies the aircraft, maintenance, insurance, and at least one crew member (ACMI), while the lessee remunerates based on the plane usage, either by hours or flights.
Both these birds are new ones, i.e. both are just 2.5 years old and delivered to Cordendon in July 2022. These planes come with an all-economy seat configuration and have 189 seats. The 737 MAX 8 is powered by CFM LEAP-1B engines.
Cordendon previously leased these aircraft to another Indian LCC, SpiceJet (SG) from October 2022 to April 2023 and again from October 2023 to May and June 2024.
Now both these planes are wet-leased to IndiGo, probably for the busy winter season. But they feature a red and distinctive Cordendon livery which can create confusion but remember they are now operated under the IndiGo network.
According to AviationAll, IndiGo plans to base this plane in Chennai (MAA), and from there it will serve cities like Bengaluru (BLR), Coimbatore (CJB), Delhi (DEL) and Kolkata (CCU). The airline will operate them from mid-December of this year.
Grounding of Airbus Fleet
IndiGo operates a fleet of around 420 aircraft as of December 10, 2024. I have to write a date as IndiGo takes delivery of planes every week. Out of these 334 are operational, remaining 86 planes are grounded due to various reasons. The majority of the fleet is made up of Airbus planes as it has 244 A320s and 123 A321s.
One of the main reasons behind grounding is issues with Pratt and Whitney PW1100G-JM geared turbofan (GTF) Engines. The airline is replacing old engines and carrying out necessary maintenance but due to supply chain constraints.
Don’t think it’s a small issue. Go First, another major Indian LCC shut down its operation mainly due to the grounding of its A320neo fleet powered by Pratt and Whitney engines.
Similarly, American LCC, Spirit Airlines (NK) filed for bankruptcy last month following financial issues and one of the major factors was the grounding of its A320 family fleet due to P&W engine issues.
Furthermore, Air New Zealand (NZ) is also facing challenges in expanding its domestic and regional operations amid P&W engine issues.
The above-mentioned are a few of many global carriers facing grounding and disruption in flight operations due to P&W engine issues.
To avoid these problems, IndiGo is leasing more Airbus and Boeing planes. However, there is a huge shortage of planes in the market and IndiGo has to wet lease planes from ACMI operators to avoid flight cancellations during the peak winter season.
Wet Lease is New Normal for IndiGo
IndiGo has wet-leased or renewed its agreements for several planes. This includes leasing two Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from Turkish Airlines (TK) but in its own livery, six Qatar Airways (QR) 737 MAX 8s, and 11 Airbus A320 from SmartLynx Malta and Estonia.
The Indian LCC exclusively flies Turkish Airlines leased 777 to Istanbul from Delhi and Mumbai. It recently renewed the lease agreement following the DGCA approval. While it flies Qatar Airways 737 to Doha (DOH) from many Indian cities.
But it deploys Smartlynx planes on various domestic routes and there is no clear pattern.
So at last to conclude, IndiGo is leasing more and more planes on damp and operational leases to compensate for the grounding of planes and avoid losing the market share to other players. IndiGo consistently punches above 60% of the domestic market and it wants to capitalize more on it. Especially during the busiest quarter of the year to improve its profit margins.
Feature Image by Harsh Tekriwal | Instagram
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