IndiGo, with a fleet of narrow-body Airbus, ATR, and freighters, is planning to lease four widebody Boeing 777s to meet the rising passenger demand on its international routes. The wet lease of certain aircraft will be done as an interim measure, the airline said.
The four widebody aircraft will be Boeing 777-200 LRs and Boeing 777-300 ERs, in the upcoming winter schedule.
An IndiGo spokesperson said: “The aviation industry globally continues to face significant supply chain disruptions; the airline has been exploring a multitude of solutions to enable it to continue operations smoothly and to provide customers with efficient and affordable travel. As an interim measure, we have decided to take on wet/damp lease certain aircraft to cover the shortfall for our scheduled international operations.”
According to the airline, international air travel is going through a strong period of recovery, and demand continues to rise in the upcoming festive and winter season. IndiGo recently launched direct flights between Mumbai and Istanbul as part of expanding its overseas network.
With the civil aviation sector slowly recovering from the pandemic blues globally, airlines, including those from India, are looking to expand their fleet as well as routes to cater to the rising travel demand.
Commenting on the above, the airline hopes that this is a positive sign for the industry and IndiGo remains very bullish on strong growth for international travel to and from India in the future.
"We have received in-principal approval from the regulators for the same and the induction of these aircraft remains subject to further requisite regulatory approvals. We are committed to exploring every opportunity possible to overcome these capacity challenges and provide our customers with efficient and affordable air travel," the spokesperson added.
With the civil aviation sector slowly recovering from the pandemic airlines are looking to expand their fleet as well as routes to cater to the rising travel demand.
A few months back Airbus had stated that India's widebody market is an untapped potential with only 57 widebody aircraft across the total fleet, compared to 458 in China and 686 in the US. Airbus also said that the growth in the Indian domestic market for the last 20 years will be seen in the international market now with more potential for wide body aircraft.
IndiGo currently has a fleet of 275 planes and runs operates over 1,600 daily flights.