Aviation was one of the earliest industries to jumpstart after the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why the airlines are emphasizing on increasing the number of flights, expanding the network and increasing the capacity, but the stalled aircraft in their fleet are becoming an obstacle in the way of the companies.
Data from aviation analytics firm Sirium shows that 102 commercial aircraft in India are still grounded instead of flying. If all these works start, the number of flights between Delhi and Mumbai will increase by 400 daily.
This is not an imaginary casserole. According to data from aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the number of domestic air passengers has increased by 47 per cent in 2022 and is just 14 per cent less than in 2019.
International air traffic has increased and the share of Indian companies in it is also increasing. During October to December 2022, the number of air passengers arriving and departing from India almost doubled to 1.45 crore. In this, the share of Indian airlines was more than 43 percent.
The problem of grounded planes is not a new one for Indian airlines. Aircraft that have not made a single flight in 30 days are kept in this category. But there are 106 aircraft in the fleet of Indian companies, which have not flown for the last one year.
Although at that time the aircraft industry was recovering from the pandemic, despite government permission to operate at full capacity from October 18, 2021. Now that air traffic has increased, grounded aircraft are becoming a bigger problem for the companies. She is leaving no stone unturned to find a cure for them.
Indigo has 34 aircraft standing on the ground, which is 11 per cent of its fleet. Out of these, 31 are unable to fly due to delay in getting engines from Pratt & Whitney. “We are flying 18 per cent more than a year ago,” said an Indigo official on condition of anonymity. This has been possible because the company has increased its fleet from 278 to 304 within a year.
An Indigo spokesperson told BLiTZ, “We are getting new aircraft continuously and new engines are also coming, but their speed is less than what is required.” Pratt & Whitney did not respond to queries from BLiTZ. But Indigo is demanding compensation from the company for the stalled planes and is also getting it.
The challenges are greater for smaller airlines like GoFirst. Its fleet has 55 aircraft, of which 22 are not flying, while only 13 aircraft were grounded a year ago. All these aircraft are awaiting new Pratt & Whitney engines. GoFirst’s flight network has shrunk by nearly 25 per cent within a year and is now operating only 1,536 flights per week. Sources said GoFirst is also mulling legal action against the company for compensation.
The blow for SpiceJet is twofold. Sirium’s data shows that out of its fleet of 90 aircraft, 28 are grounded. The spokesperson of the airline said that this is incorrect.
“Most of the grounded aircraft have been re-delivered to the lessors but are not flying due to pending registration,” he added. Some of our aircraft are standing on the ground due to lack of spares.
SpiceJet is grappling with capital crunch. This is delaying payments to aircraft lessors. Last month, its board restructured dues of over $100 million by giving 7.5 per cent stake in SpiceJet and compulsorily convertible debentures in the subsidiary cargo company to Carlyle Aviation Partners.
SpiceJet’s flight network has shrunk by a third in the last one year, according to Sirium data. Last month, the airline had said that it was unable to fly many aircraft due to technical reasons.
Air India is recovering from these problems. In January 2022, the government handed over Air India to the Tata group. Now it is buying spare parts and flying more and more planes. This is the reason that the number of its aircraft standing on the ground has come down from 31 to 14. During the last one year, Air India flights have increased by about one-third.
Air India spokesperson said, “We have started flying more aircraft, which has increased our operational network and increased the number of flights on existing routes.” Recently, Air India was in news for ordering a record 470 new aircraft to Boeing and Airbus.
