IndiGo on Istanbul flight, leases six aircraft from Turkish Airlines
Photo credit Twitter Indigo
By Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, November 2: Leading Indian carrier, IndiGo Airlines, has received a nod from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to lease up to six B777-300(ER)s for six months from Turkish Airlines.
The tenure for leasing the aircraft is though very short, as IndiGo’s has asked for a two-year lease period. The planes will be deployed onto routes between India and Turkey, with IndiGo already flying between Delhi and Istanbul and due to start Mumbai – Istanbul flights on January 1, 2023.
These aircraft are expected to arrive later in December this year. According to IndiGo, “We have received an in-principle approval from the regulators for wet leasing aircraft and induction of these remains subject to further requisite regulatory approvals.”
Turkish Airlines has 33, B777-300ERs and all are operational, besides 35, ATR72-600s. IndiGo is exclusively an operator of Airbus narrow bodies aircraft. “International air travel is going through a strong period of recovery, and demand continues to rise in the upcoming festive and winter season,” said IndiGo.
As an interim measure, we have decided to wet, damp lease certain aircraft to cover the shortfall for our scheduled international operations, added the airlines.
However, the DGCA did not support IndiGo’s exemption request and a two-year lease. Indian aviation regulations allow the country’s carriers, subject to DGCA agreement, to wet lease aircraft for up to six months (three months plus a once-off three-month extension) to deal with “emergency situations”.
However, capacity or route expansion does not constitute an emergency like situation under the regulations. The DGCA reportedly believes that safety standards may be comprised if the two-year lease goes ahead, saying that the planes will remain registered in Turkey and operated by Turkish crews and that the Indian safety regulator will not have adequate oversight.
Further, the DGCA points out that allowing an extended lease period may effectively grant a Türkiye-based airline access to the Indian market over and above existing air services agreements. Airlines based in either country now have the right to fly one daily roundtrip on the key Istanbul – Mumbai and Istanbul – Delhi routes. The DGCA argues allowing the two-year lease will create incentives for airlines to abuse the bilateral air service agreement.
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