Page 29 - AAA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2019 Online Magazine

[ AIRLINES ]
the number three is the transient vibration, which happens due to
the nature of this engine. And all regulatory authorities outside
India have a requirement, if it’s below a certain threshold, there is
no maintenance activity required. We, however, have taken a more
cautious approach and we are fulfilling that.’

He states that the in-flight shutdown rates with the engine has
come down to 0.01 per thousand engine flight hours. “ However,
there is one limitation that I want to mention is the extended range
operations if you have an airport outside India. Right now, every vide our operators with the logical next step in
airport must be reachable on our flight track within 60 minutes. cost efficiency, passenger comfort and market
For neo aircraft, we can’t use extended range, which goes up to coverage,” said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief
120 minutes. So, our international operation will be having a more Commercial Officer.
restricted route, which we are doing,’ said on the call.
IndiGo was one of our early launch customers
Despite these troubles, the LCC placed a firm order for 300 for the A320neo and is now the biggest cus-
A320neo Family aircraft in late October. IndiGo will acquire a mix of tomer for the single-aisle jetliner. The LCC took
A320neo, A321neo and A321XLR aircraft as part of the latest order, delivery of its first A320neo in March 2016 and
which takes its total orders with Airbus to 730. The choice of engine today has a fleet of 97 A320neos, 7 A321neo,
manufacturer for this order will be made at a later date. IndiGo is 128 A320ceos and 22 ATRs. IndiGo will start
the first Indian airline to order the A321XLR, unprecedented extra retiring its A320ceos from 2020 and by 2022,
range of up to 4,700nm (with 30 percent lower fuel burn per seat IndiGo’s A320neo Family fleet overtake the
compared with previous generation competitor jets). “IndiGo has A320ceo fleet. IndiGo also received its first
brilliantly demonstrated the relevance of the A320neo for leading A321neo in October and the aircraft was also
low cost operators, and the A321neo - and now the A321XLR - pro- Airbus’ 1,000th A320neo family aircraft deliv-
ery. IndiGo’s A321neos will be powered by Pratt
& Whitney PW1133G turbofan engines. The air-
craft are configured in a 222-seat layout. IndiGo
has contracted aircraft lessor CDB Aviation
for nine Airbus A321neo jetliners. CDB Aviation
anticipates the remaining eight aircraft to be
handed over by the end of January 2020.

lndiGo reported a net loss of Rs 10,620 million
for the quarter ended Sept 2019. ‘The lower
profitability was mainly contributed by mark
to market loss due to capitalization of operat-
ing lease liabilities, re-assessment of accrual
estimates for future maintenance cost and one-
time adjustment owing to adoption of lower tax
rates’ Aditya Pande IndiGo’s new CFO informed
during the conference call. IndiGo extended the
leases of most of its existing A320ceo Family
jetliners beginning 2016 and also got around 50
used aircraft from the secondary market. The
engines of these older aircraft had to undergo
their second shop visits which are significantly
more expensive than first shop visits and these
created maintenance cost spikes for the
company. IndiGo is India’s largest passenger
airline with a market share of 48.2 per cent as
of September, 2019. It also has a 39% market
share in the domestic cargo business in India.
The LCC operates to 60 domestic destinations
and 23 international destinations

SpiceJet in Growth Mode
SpiceJet appears to be far away from the
problematic days in 2015, when the airline was

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE October/November/December 2019 | 29