IndiGo is evaluating wet leasing of planes and slowing down re-delivery through lease extensions. This comes at a time when the carrier, which has a 57 per cent market share in India, is hit by ‘global supply chain disruptions’ with 30 of its aircraft grounded.
As a counter measure, IndiGo is also exploring the introduction and re-induction of aircraft to its fleet. As of September 30, IndiGo’s fleet consisted of 279 aircraft — 26 A320 CEOs, 149 A320 NEOs, 68 A321 NEOs, 35 ATRs, and one A321 freighter — a net decrease of three passenger aircraft.
The carrier has over 1,600 daily departures- the seventh largest globally- and flies to 100 destinations, including 26 international routes.
An IndiGo spokesperson said the aviation industry continues to face significant supply chain disruptions. The airline is prioritising adequate deployment and it has engaged with OEM partners to work on mitigation measures.
“As we work on various cost-efficient countermeasures with our OEM partners, the endeavour is to minimise the economic impact of around 30 airlines on ground (grounded aircraft), resulting from this disruption,” the spokesperson said.
“Some of the other measures being evaluated include slowing down re-deliveries through lease extensions, exploring the reinduction of aircraft into the fleet and evaluating the wet lease options within the regulatory guidelines,” the airline further added.
Speaking at the earnings call, Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo, pointed out that supply chain disruptions were “one of the key after-effects of the pandemic in the aviation industry”. This impacted aircraft manufacturing and led to a subsequent shortage of spare engines worldwide, and for the airlines.
“This has affected our operations due to grounding of aircraft and has impacted our ability to fully deploy capacity productively. However, we are looking at various options to mitigate the shortfalls in our capacity deployment,” he said.