The grounding of Boeing 737 Max airplanes, the financial crisis that has hit Jet Airways and the shortage of pilots at IndiGo, have hit the growing Indian aviation market hard in the last one month.
More than 45 airplanes have been grounded by various airlines in the last one month and as a result of this, there has been a sharp rise in airfares while air passenger traffic has witnessed some decline.
Low cost carrier SpiceJet, that has grounded its fleet of 12 Boeing 737 Max aircraft after the tragic Ethiopian airline crash earlier this month, is yet to take a decision on its future course of action. Following similar action by several international aviation regulators, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) had ordered the grounding of all fleets of Boeing 737 Max in India to ensure the safety of passengers.
This has affected the operations of SpiceJet on several routes and the airline had to cancel flights on at least 30 routes on which it operated the 737 Max airplanes. In its official statement, SpiceJet has, however, said: “SpiceJet is rationalising and optimising the use of its Boeing 737 NG and Bombardier Q400 aircraft to address the current situation and minimise inconvenience to its passengers.”
However, when asked about what long-term plan SpiceJet has to fill the gap of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, the airline did not respond. It is to be noted that SpiceJet had placed an order for over 200 Boeing 737 Max airplanes last year.
IndiGo, another budget carrier which has expanded its fleet aggressively in the last few years, is now marred with the shortage of pilots that has forced the airline to ground at least 20 of its aircraft in the last one month. IndiGo has been grounding aircraft over the last few months, leading to cancellation of several flights.
However, IndiGo told this newspaper that all is well and that the airline is fairly maintaining the ratio of pilots per aircraft. In a written reply to The Sunday Guardian, IndiGo spokesperson said, “IndiGo continues to maintain the average ratio of about 6.7 captains per aircraft which is on the higher end of the industry benchmarking. Taking this ratio in consideration, IndiGo is confident that the airline will not face a pilot shortage. We have released internally in the last year, around 200 Senior First Officers to Captains. We have prepared ourselves for the last half year for the ongoing expansion and we will continue inducting captains at a required pace of internal upgrades of Senior First Officers at a similar rate as we have achieved in the past year. Additionally, we will have a total of 160 expats on board by end June 2019. This number includes currently existing expats of 40. Further on, IndiGo has all the requirements for a self-sustained growth of its pilot numbers. This includes an adequate number of experienced trainers of all categories, sufficient simulators, cadet programmes and tie-ups with different flight schools.”
30/03/19 Dibyendu Mondal/Sunday Guardian Live
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More than 45 airplanes have been grounded by various airlines in the last one month and as a result of this, there has been a sharp rise in airfares while air passenger traffic has witnessed some decline.
Low cost carrier SpiceJet, that has grounded its fleet of 12 Boeing 737 Max aircraft after the tragic Ethiopian airline crash earlier this month, is yet to take a decision on its future course of action. Following similar action by several international aviation regulators, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) had ordered the grounding of all fleets of Boeing 737 Max in India to ensure the safety of passengers.
This has affected the operations of SpiceJet on several routes and the airline had to cancel flights on at least 30 routes on which it operated the 737 Max airplanes. In its official statement, SpiceJet has, however, said: “SpiceJet is rationalising and optimising the use of its Boeing 737 NG and Bombardier Q400 aircraft to address the current situation and minimise inconvenience to its passengers.”
However, when asked about what long-term plan SpiceJet has to fill the gap of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, the airline did not respond. It is to be noted that SpiceJet had placed an order for over 200 Boeing 737 Max airplanes last year.
IndiGo, another budget carrier which has expanded its fleet aggressively in the last few years, is now marred with the shortage of pilots that has forced the airline to ground at least 20 of its aircraft in the last one month. IndiGo has been grounding aircraft over the last few months, leading to cancellation of several flights.
However, IndiGo told this newspaper that all is well and that the airline is fairly maintaining the ratio of pilots per aircraft. In a written reply to The Sunday Guardian, IndiGo spokesperson said, “IndiGo continues to maintain the average ratio of about 6.7 captains per aircraft which is on the higher end of the industry benchmarking. Taking this ratio in consideration, IndiGo is confident that the airline will not face a pilot shortage. We have released internally in the last year, around 200 Senior First Officers to Captains. We have prepared ourselves for the last half year for the ongoing expansion and we will continue inducting captains at a required pace of internal upgrades of Senior First Officers at a similar rate as we have achieved in the past year. Additionally, we will have a total of 160 expats on board by end June 2019. This number includes currently existing expats of 40. Further on, IndiGo has all the requirements for a self-sustained growth of its pilot numbers. This includes an adequate number of experienced trainers of all categories, sufficient simulators, cadet programmes and tie-ups with different flight schools.”
30/03/19 Dibyendu Mondal/Sunday Guardian Live
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