India’s aviation market faces near-term stress with over 22% of its fleet grounded due to engine issues or maintenance work. Go First’s flight suspension has only exacerbated the situation, according to a Mint study.
An analysis of data available on aircraft tracking portals such as Flightradar24 shows that 147 out of the total 655 aircraft operated by seven major airlines in India are not operational for at least the past week.
Wadia Group-owned Go First contributes significantly to the grounded fleet, as it has temporarily suspended flight operations. Out of its 54 aircraft, nearly half were already out of service due to the problems with Pratt and Whitney engines that power its Airbus A320neo fleet.
On 3 May, Go Air had grounded the rest of its active fleet citing an unviable financial situation due to engine issues since 2016.
According to data, 40 planes operated by IndiGo, India’s largest airline with a fleet of over 300 planes, are out of service. IndiGo also uses Pratt & Whitney engines for some of its A320neo aircraft and has experienced grounding of nearly 10% of its fleet since at least October 2022.
“It all depends when the supply chain is able to provide us all the things we need. There are some different reports. We’re in close contact, of course, with the original equipment manufacturers, and we hope the situation will improve in the course of the year. But again, I think here, we depend really on the OEMs and the supply chain facilitation on that part,” IndiGo’s chief executive officer Pieter Elbers told analysts in February.
Over 55% of budget carrier SpiceJet’s fleet is active and the remaining 27 aircraft out of the total 61 airplanes, are grounded, primarily due to its financial health, besides some instances of unavailability of aircraft parts. While Ajay Singh, SpiceJet’s chairman and managing director, recently said it will revive 25 of the grounded aircraft with funds under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, it remains to be seen when the planes will become operational, as civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has received requests from Ireland’s lessor SMBC to de-register three SpiceJet aircraft on 10 May. “Two of the three planes are grounded for a long period now, but it doesn’t affect our operations. We have been working to bring back our grounded fleet on the basis of the loan sanctioned under the ECLGS scheme,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
Tata Group-run Air India currently has 18 of its 118 aircraft grounded. Other airlines under the Tata umbrella such as Vistara has grounded four planes from its fleet of 63 aircraft, and AirAsia India’s one aircraft from its fleet of 28 is out of service. Three of the 28 aircraft operated by Air India Express is grounded.
The youngest airline to have taken to the Indian skies, Akasa Air, which commenced operations in August 2022, is operating its entire fleet of 20 aircraft. “It is imminent that air fares are likely to remain more expensive as the current quarter sees a strong travel sentiment owing to the summer breaks in schools,” an analyst said, seeking anonymity.
“Global supply chain issues have been impacting the delivery of new aircraft and aircraft parts, and it is likely to ease only at the end of 2023 or by 2024. Hence, while high fares may help airlines with strong yields, demand will suffer as airlines struggle to quickly add this kind of loss in capacity in Indian aviation market, which is seeing record levels of traffic,” an airline executive said also requesting anonymity.