DGCA allows IndiGo to wet lease Turkish Airlines planes

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has authorised IndiGo’s request to wet-lease a wide-body Boeing aircraft from Turkish Airlines for a period of up to six months.

But the local carrier’s request to lease the aircraft for a period of up to two years was rejected by the Aviation regulator.

IndiGo, the largest customer of Airbus narrowbody aircraft globally, seems to be charting a new path for itself with wide-body aircraft coming to its rescue. Since its fleet now solely consists of narrow-body aircraft, IndiGo chose to lease wide-body aircraft to expand its international flight schedule in order to satisfy growing demand.

Also read – DGCA turns down IndiGo request to wet lease Turkish planes

The DGCA turned down the request of the country’s largest airline to wet lease the aircraft for a longer period, citing that the move could become diversion of traffic rights in collusion with a strong foreign carrier that will mainly feed the latter’s hub abroad with more passengers from India.

Aviation regulator DGCA has allowed IndiGo to wet lease wide-body Boeing planes from Turkish Airlines for up to six months and has rejected the domestic carrier’s request for leasing the aircraft for up to two years.

Also read – Is wet leasing aircraft a good choice for Indian airlines?

This move of leasing wide body planes was taken because of the slowdown of deliveries of new aircraft and supply problems of Pratt & Whitney and CFM engines causing a large number of IndiGo and Go First Airbus A320 aircraft to be grounded.

Also read – IndiGo to debut with widebody aircraft for international expansion

IndiGo, which currently has only narrow-body planes in its fleet, decided to lease wide-body aircraft to operate more flights on international routes to meet rising demand.

IndiGo has a fleet of more than 275 planes and flies to 26 international destinations. It is also the country’s largest domestic airline with a market share of 57.7 per cent in September.

The government is also looking at mega aviation hubs in India and is also encouraging domestic airlines to have wide-body planes in their fleets.

Also read – Government wants airlines to induct wide-body aircraft to reduce travel time