IndiGo Trying To Extend Wet Lease Of Boeing 777 Planes, Says Report

The carrier initially started operating its first Boeing 777 on the Delhi-Istanbul route from February 1, 2023, and the second on the Mumbai-Istanbul route from May 17, 2023

IndiGo is now working with the domestic aviation industry to look into the possibility of extending the wet lease of the wide body Boeing 777 planes from Turkish Airlines. This comes just ahead of the expiry of the existing lease period which is ending this week.

Currently, the airline is operating two Boeing 777 planes on wet lease from Delhi and Mumbai to Istanbul, reported PTI. These aircraft are the only two wide-body aircraft that are in the fleet of the carrier. IndiGo controls a 62 per cent share in the domestic aviation market.

These aircraft were wet-leased in order to see to the surge in demand for international travel from India. The carrier initially started operating its first Boeing 777 on the Delhi-Istanbul route from February 1, 2023, and the second on the Mumbai-Istanbul route from May 17, 2023.

The report cited sources familiar with the matter and said the carrier hasn’t received an extension for the wet lease of the aircraft. A spokesperson for the airline told the news agency that the carrier is ‘working with the ministry to explore solutions to extend the wet lease as our AOG (Aircraft on Ground) related capacity constraints, while improving, are not entirely behind us’.

These two Boeing 777 planes will be run by the airline till November 14 on these two routes. From November 15, the carrier will be using A321 aircraft for operating flights on these routes, information available on flight tracking website, Flightradar24.com showed.

The wet lease of a carrier by an Indian airline includes the leasing of foreign aircraft, along with maintenance, insurance, and crew. The aircraft remains under the operational control of the foreign operator (lessor) and remains subject to regulatory requirements of the foreign civil aviation authority concerned.

Notably, the Boeing 777 aircraft includes a seating capacity of 400 passengers in a dual-class configuration with 24 business and 376 economy class seats.