As the supply chain woes continue to grapple the aviation industry another airline is bearing its brunt. IndiGo has grounded more than 30 aircraft in its fleet due to the shortage of engines and spares.
“As we work on various cost-efficient measures with OEM (original equipment manufacturers) partners, the endeavor is to minimize the economic impact of 30 aircraft on the ground, resulting from this global disruption," IndiGo said in a statement.
IndiGo has 279 aircraft in its fleet and operates over 1600 flights daily, recently reported a third straight loss of INR 15830 million in Q3 of 2022. Hence, the grounding of even one aircraft is bound to have a deep impact on one of the biggest airlines in India, according to experts.
During the post-earnings conference call, Pieter Elbers, chief executive, of IndiGo said: “One of the key after-effects of the pandemic in the aviation industry is supply chain disruptions in aircraft manufacturing and the subsequent shortage of spare engines. This has affected our operations because of the grounding of aircraft and has impacted our ability to fully deploy capacity productively."
In order to meet the rising passenger demand and expand international capacity, IndiGo has inducted three B777 widebody aircraft in its fleet on a wet lease from Turkish Airlines.
“We are bullish on the market opportunities and will continue to add flights in existing and new markets," the airline added.
Apart from IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet are also adopting the lease model to meet short- to medium-term capacity needs. Air India has chalked out a 15-month plan where it will receive 30 aircraft on lease.
With rising fuel prices, rupee depreciation and supply chain hit due to the pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war, experts believe it will take at least a couple more years for the aerospace logistics sector to be back on track.
Going ahead, a delay in the latest fuel-efficient aircraft which is 16% more fuel efficient will only lead to piling on expenses for IndiGo.