Budget carrier SpiceJet could become the second-largest domestic carrier in terms of fleet size by early next year as it expects grounded Boeing 737-8 Max to be back in service in January 2020. SpiceJet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh told a business news channel that the airline’s total fleet size will be around 125 planes by January after the re-induction of the Max fleet. To be sure, SpiceJet is already the second-largest carrier in the country in terms of domestic market share after the grounding of Jet Airways.
National carrier Air India currently has 127 aircraft behind IndiGo which operates with a fleet of 243 planes.“The fleet size will be 125 as we have certain aircraft grounded and some are in the US, waiting to be delivered. The timeline we have been given by Boeing is early November. They feel that by early November the aircraft will be certified by the FAA (US aviation regulator) and then it would depend on how much does the DGCA takes. Our timeline for this is January,” Singh told CNBC-TV18.
