IndiGo, India’s largest carrier, will see induction of Boeing MAX 8 aircraft in its fleet on wet/ damp lease starting August 01, 2024. For an airline whose orders with Airbus have seen one record after another, seeing the MAX 8 with IndiGo decals or full livery is going to be a strange feeling for most. The first of the aircraft is currently enroute from Doha to Delhi, operating as QR3168. A7-BSA is the first of the six aircraft which will make its way to India and operate 150 weekly flights between India and Doha, the capital of Qatar and the hub for Qatar Airways.
The first rotation to start will see operations to Mumbai and Kochi. This rotation starts Aug 01, 2024 and operates as Doha – Kochi – Doha – Mumbai – Doha. The Doha – Kochi flight operates on all days except Tuesday, which would become a maintenance slot for the aircraft.
The second rotation starts on Aug 07 and operates as Doha – Chennai – Doha – Kannur – Doha, which operates daily. The third rotation starts Aug 09, and operates just two flights to Bengaluru and back from Doha, which is a daily operation.
The fourth rotation starts Aug 14, and operates flights to Hyderabad, with one being daily while the other being six weekly services. Coupled with the first aircraft, which has a gap on Tuesday, there is a full 24 hour maintenance slot available for one plane which will be on lease to IndiGo.
The fifth rotation starts Aug 22 and operates double daily services to Mumbai. This also means that IndiGo will scale up its Mumbai – Doha route to thrice daily frequency from Aug 23, 2024. The sixth and last rotation starts Aug 29 and operates double daily services to Delhi.
Why was there a commentary around maintenance slots?
The six Qatari MAX 8 which are coming in on damp lease are coming in as ACMI, which stands for Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance. It is a leasing arrangement in the aviation industry where one airline (the lessor) provides an aircraft along with the crew, maintenance, and insurance to another airline (the lessee).
Here’s a breakdown of what each component includes:
- Aircraft: The lessor provides the aircraft to the lessee.
- Crew: The lessor provides the pilots, flight attendants, and sometimes other necessary crew members.
- Maintenance: The lessor is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the aircraft.
- Insurance: The lessor provides the insurance for the aircraft, covering both hull and liability.
This makes the maintenance slot in rotations important, since only those planes which are on lease to IndiGo can operate these routes, even if Qatar Airways has three more MAX 8 than what is being leased to IndiGo.
This type of lease is typically short-term and is used by airlines to quickly add capacity, manage seasonal demand, or cover for aircraft that are undergoing maintenance. It allows the lessee to operate additional flights without the need to invest in more aircraft or hire additional staff. IndiGo calls this a damp lease because local regulations mandate IndiGo cabin crew to be part of the cabin crew set.
The arrangement with Qatar Airways is on similar lines with what IndiGo has with Turkish Airlines. As in the case with flights to Istanbul, the service levels on these flights are likely to be different. The flights will operate with a “6E” / “IGO” / “IFLY” in terms of IATA, ICAO and Call Sign.
Network Thoughts
With these changes, there will be 48,377 seats each way between India and Qatar, with six airlines in Operation. Qatar Airways operates 99 weekly frequencies to 13 Indian destinations and offers 24031 weekly seats. From the Indian side, the five airlines operate 138 frequencies and offer 24346 weekly seats. IndiGo would operate 82 weekly flights each way, with 14,502 seats on offer, the second highest after Qatar Airways. With the strong codeshare partnership and now Qatari aircraft, the IndiGo – Qatar combine will have a significant number of seats on offer.
The other carriers are Air India Express, Air India, Vistara and Akasa Air, with Vistara being the smallest carrier by seats on offer. IndiGo is effectively using the grounding of planes to its favour since in normal circumstances wet leased is not favoured by the regulators since they give no control to the regulator as there are foreign flagged planes.
The flights to Doha may shift to reconfigured aircraft of IndiGo when they become available, but will IndiGo find an opportune opportunity to induct the A350s earlier than planned in one way or another?
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