NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday allowed IndiGo to wet lease (lease with operating crew) 11 narrow body Airbus A320 family aircraft for three months.
The low cost carrier is planning to lease over 20 planes as Pratt - Whitney (PW) has warned upto 700 of its engines for the A320neo aircraft will need to be examined in the next three years globally, leading to several planes required to be grounded.
Since IndiGo is the largest A320 operator in the world, it is trying to lease as many as possible older gen A320ceos that are not impacted by the latest in PW's unending woes for its geared turbofan (GTF) A320neo engines.We have given the approval for wet leasing of 11 aircraft to IndiGo for three months.
These are all A320 family aircraft," said a senior DGCA official.
The regulator is yet to receive IndiGos request for leasing more planes.
The next batch is going to be dry lease planes, where only aircraft will be leased with the low cost carriers own crew operating them.The government had last November doubled the period for which Indian airlines can wet lease wide body aircraft from six months to a year as a stopgap measure due to supply chain issues being faced by the aviation industry.
With dozens of planes grounded, awaiting engines and components, and supply of ordered new aircraft affected from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), desi airlines with mega growth plans were unable to spread their wings fast enough to cope with the increased travel demand.IndiGo has already wet leased (taken on lease with operating crew) two wide body aircraft from Turkish Airlines which are used to operate a daily between Istanbul and Delhi and Mumbai.
The single aisle A320neos were supposed to be more fuel efficient than the A320ceos but the issues with PW engines has now led IndiGo to look for A320ceos.
IndiGo currently has about 170 A320neos of which close to 50 are grounded.PW has now warned that 600 to 700 engines will be removed for shop visits between 2023 and 2026 (and) the accelerated removals and incremental shop visits will result in higher aircraft on ground.
IndiGo could be badly hit by the new PW warning.