IndiGo gets govt nod to wet lease planes for US, Canada operations: Report
3 min read 04 Mar 2023, 06:55 AM ISTUnder the wet lease arrangement, planes are leased along with the operating crew and engineersLast month, IndiGo started operating Boeing 777 on the Delhi-Istanbul route
PremiumIn a bid to expand its international flight operations, IndiGo said that the civil aviation ministry has granted permission to the airline to wet lease up to two planes for operating flights to the US and Canada. An Indigo official told PTI news agency the ministry has also given approval for IndiGo to wet lease up to two wide-body aircraft which can be used for flying to the US and Canada.
Mint could not confirm this development.
Under the wet lease arrangement, planes are leased along with the operating crew and engineers. Generally, wet leasing of planes is allowed for short periods to tackle supply constraints and ensure that airfares do not surge significantly.
Last month, IndiGo started operating Boeing 777 on the Delhi-Istanbul route. The plane has been taken on wet lease from Turkish Airlines.
At present, IndiGo has more than 300 planes in its fleet.
Separately, Reuters on Friday reported that budget carrier IndiGo is in talks with both Boeing and its current supplier Airbus to order more than 500 passenger jets. The report followed close on the heels of the domestic rival Air India deal.
Tata-owned Air India last month sealed deals for a record 470 jets from Airbus and Boeing and plans to lease another 25 for immediate needs, bringing the acquisition to 495 aircraft.
India's largest airline has until now been an exclusive buyer of narrow-body jets from Airbus and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said last month that IndiGo was close to ordering several hundred planes from the European planemaker. IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, is also comparing the A320neo with the Boeing 737 MAX as it weighs a major new order for narrow-body jets.
IndiGo, which counts a 55% share of the domestic market, is widely expected to maintain Airbus as its supplier of narrow-body jets to squeeze out further economies of scale.
It is already one of Airbus's largest customers and has so far ordered a total of 830 Airbus A320-family jets of which 488 are still to be delivered.
Indigo began operations in 2006 and flies to more than 75 Indian cities including remote destinations in the country's northeast. It also flies internationally to nearby places including Dubai, Singapore, Hanoi, and Maldives, and is expanding into Europe through its partnership with Turkish Airlines.
