As domestic passenger traffic nears pre-Covid levels in India, aircraft deliveries and inductions put on hold due to the pandemic are expected to resume and accelerate, experts said.
There are 710 aircraft flying on domestic routes. Although airlines will be inducting new planes, it will mostly be replacements and not new purchases, experts said. However, the Indian aviation sector is likely to be benefitted both through fleet expansion and inducting fuel-efficient aircraft by replacing old ones, they said.
Budget carrier SpiceJet will be inducting 50 B737Max aircraft by March 2023, chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said at a recent event, without specifying the total number of planes likely to be added to its fleet. Besides B737MAX, SpiceJet also uses Bombardier Q400 aircraft. Full-service carrier Vistara, a joint venture between India’s Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, aims to have around 70 aircraft by 2023, up from the current 49, industry insiders said, but declined to be named.
