IndiGo has a record of ordering 500 Airbus family planes at Paris last year. The single largest order in history has been significant for Airbus and a momentous occasion for IndiGo since they signed it a day prior to Air India’s formal signing of the order. However, over the last few days one after another four Boeing MAX 8 aircraft of Corendon Airlines have made it to Delhi from Turkey, to be inducted with IndiGo. Two more are listed on flight tracking websites as scheduled to fly to Delhi.
Interestingly, while IndiGo has placed an order of 30 A350s, the only two widebody which currently are part of its fleet are two B77Ws. With the MAX 8 of Qatar Airways operating to Doha from various points in India, IndiGo will soon have a fleet of a dozen MAX 8, split equally between Qatar Airways and Corendon along with two B77Ws from Turkish Airways. Last week, with passengers stuck at Istanbul making news, the two B77Ws were in focus and the airline pressed into service its A321s along with possible charter from Turkish Airways to manage the passengers.
Here is a look at the routes / sectors where IndiGo is deploying the Boeings from its fleet. The data for the Qatari MAX 8 and Turkish B77Ws is from the booking engines. Special thanks to Cirium – an aviation analytics company for sharing the schedule of MAX8 belonging to Corendon Airlines and operating for IndiGo. With a majority of those planes in India and the typical uncertainty around the start date for these flights, I have relied on schedule in the first week of February, by which time it seems all six planes will be operational. Exact start dates of rotation are subject to change and hence not shared in this article, to avoid confusion.
The MAX 8 on domestic sectors
There are six MAX 8 (189 seats each) which will operate for IndiGo and all six of them will be based at Chennai, making maintenance, crew management simpler for Corendon Airlines. The airline will operate these aircraft to Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Ranchi, Kolkata, Vadodara, Bhubaneshwar, Mumbai, Jaipur, Goa, Delhi and Hyderabad,
On an average, the fleet will be clocking 6.6 flights per day with four rotations doing six flights a day, and two rotations clocking eight flights a day. IndiGo is adding a subfleet of A321neos with a two class cabin, with the front cabin called IndiGoStretch. It went live in November and by next month flights on Delhi – Mumbai – Delhi route. With the MAX 8 taking up a lot of flights on the Mumbai – Chennai – Mumbai sector, it is safe to assume that IndiGoStretch’s debut on this sector is not a priority for the airline. Infact, bookings for three flights each between Delhi and Bengaluru, with IndiGoStretch are already open in January. With Air India focusing on three class operations and five sectors, IndiGo would well focus on those five first.
If you want to experience the MAX 8 flying for IndiGo (or avoid them), here is the list of sectors and count of flights/week each way where they are operating. The equipment would be updated on the booking engine, just to double check before booking.
- Chennai – Ahmedabad – Chennai (13 weekly)
- Chennai – Vadodara – Chennai (1 weekly)
- Chennai – Coimbatore – Chennai (7 weekly)
- Chennai – Bengaluru – Chennai (7 weekly)
- Chennai – Ranchi – Chennai (7 weekly)
- Chennai – Mumbai – Chennai (42 weekly)
- Chennai – Bhubaneswar – Chennai (14 weekly)
- Chennai – Kolkata – Chennai (21 weekly)
- Chennai – Hyderabad – Chennai (7 weekly)
- Chennai – Jaipur – Chennai (7 weekly)
- Chennai – Goa Dabolim – Chennai (7 weekly)
- Chennai – Delhi – Chennai (7 weekly)
Tail Note
Not that long ago, Air India was on the receiving end for having appointed a Turkish National as its CEO. In the end, he did not join and Air India had to look for a new CEO. However, when it comes to wet-leases; IndiGo’s two widebody aircraft come from Turkish Airlines, its six MAX 8 coming from Corendon – a Turkish flag carrier.
How long will the aircraft stay is anybody’s guess. The airline has a valid justification for introducing wet-leases. Even after the grounding situation improved, it still has over 50 planes which are grounded due to Pratt & Whitney engine issues. The wet-leases today are fewer than this number.
The cost would be higher, if significant or not may never be out in public. However, there will be other investments – in ground equipment, services, etc. At some of these airports, the airline already has equipment and handling experience with the MAX 8 of Qatar Airways, but at multi-flight stations like say Coimbatore or Jaipur, where there is only one flight a day with these aircraft, it could be additional costs.
The proof is in the pudding and thus the financial results over the next few quarters will let us know if this gamble of a move paid off, or not.
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