Airline fleet status check in India: Grounded in reality

Airline fleet parked at the airport amid COVID-led flying restrictions (Source: ShutterStock)

Social media was abuzz earlier in June when Delta Airlines posted details of a note found in the cockpit of an Airbus a321 that was parked in storage in Victorville, California. The pilot who had flown the aircraft to Victorville at the start of the pandemic in March last year had written the note. It was addressed to the pilot who would eventually take the aircraft out of storage, but the writer could hardly have imagined his note would be read after more than a year.

Aviation worldwide was one of the sectors that were most affected by the extended pandemic. With international borders closed and flights restricted, airlines the world over looked for ways to cut costs and stay afloat. Parking their aircraft was one of the solutions – more than 400 of them were at the California site.

Closer home, the AirAsia group said 90 percent of its fleet had been grounded. During the initial days of the pandemic, airlines moved their aircraft to long-term storage locations in Spain, Australia and the US.

Airlines in India did not opt for long-term storage outside the country. Instead, they looked for ways to sustain themselves – some airlines converted their passenger aircraft into cargo carriers during the nationwide lockdown last year to transport goods across the country. While long-term storage overseas was never considered, airlines in India did put their aircraft in storage within the country for varying durations.

The India story

The pandemic was the last thing that India’s aviation sector needed. According to CAPA – Centre for Aviation, airlines in India are staring at a loss of about $8 billion for the past two years.

The Indian aviation market is different from others globally. For one thing, the combined fleet strength of Indian airlines is less than 650. In comparison, Delta alone has 768 aircraft in its fleet.

The percentage of airline-owned planes in India is minuscule, in contrast to many airlines globally that own the aircraft they operate. Most aircraft in India are leased, which means the airlines must check with lessors about storage and cannot decide on such measures on their own. A leased plane also implies that payment obligations continue whether the aircraft are put to use or not.

Airline maintenance is a mix of cycles and hours. In these pandemic times, airlines try to preserve cash and delay maintenance by using multiple aircraft sparingly instead of parking some and using others extensively – an approach that most carriers in India seem to have adopted.

A circular from the Airports Authority of India has laid out the charges per MT (1,000 kg). They vary from Rs 2.10 per MT per hour to Rs 9 per MT per hour. Given that a typical A320 weighs about 55,000 kg, or 55 MT without fuel, the cost roughly amounts to Rs 3, 50,000, a month. The real effort and cost lie in ensuring that the storage is in line with manufacturer guidelines.

Where does the fleet stand?

Getting an accurate fleet count for airlines in India can be difficult. The data on the websites of the regulator and the airlines are not always updated. For this study, information from the regulator was collated with grounded airline data from Flightradar24.com, an aircraft tracking website.

The study was based on information as of June 11, 2021, when daily departures in India crossed the 1,000 daily figure after 33 days. The duration of grounded airlines was divided into three: up to seven days, eight to 15 days and over 15 days.

India’s airlines can operate only a limited number of flights as part of the restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. This ranged from 30 percent to 80 percent of their pre-COVID flights, depending on the severity of the pandemic. Some routes turned unviable because of restrictions on movement and activities.

According to the data, 25 percent of the fleet was grounded for over seven days, while 20 percent was grounded for over 15 days.

Excluding SpiceJet’s B737 MAX aircraft, which were grounded for reasons other than COVID-19 curbs, only a small number of planes were grounded for more than three months.

IndiGo and Vistara did not ground their aircraft for these extended periods, while only a few planes of SpiceJet and AirAsia India were parked for such durations.

IndiGo, with a fleet size of 270, grounded only 27 aircraft, or 9 percent of its aircraft, for more than seven days.

Vistara, a joint venture of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, grounded seven of its 46 aircraft – three for up to seven days and two each in the 8-15 day and over 15-day categories.

Most of the aircraft grounded for over 15 days were Airbus A321neos. While the A321neo is becoming a gamechanger for airlines, that does not seem to be the case when passenger traffic dips.

SpiceJet, GoAir and AirAsia had over 40 percent of their fleet parked for over seven days. Data from Flightradar24 showed that 21 of GoAir’s aircraft were on the ground for over 15 days. SpiceJet had 41 aircraft and AirAsia India had 12 aircraft grounded for over 15 days.

SpiceJet’s 94 aircraft include those with seats that the airline is using for cargo operations and excludes wet-leased planes.

Tail Note

Predictions had been made about India’s aviation sector, including the possibility of airlines collapsing, lessors repossessing aircraft, and airlines sending planes for long-term parking. None of them happened as the airlines followed their separate survival strategies.

IndiGo is retiring its older A320ceo aircraft, with over 15 of them possibly being prepared for re-delivery. SpiceJet found a path in cargo revenue. AirAsia India is banking on the backing of its parent company, and GoAir – now rebranded Go First – is counting on a planned initial share sale to prop it up.

Aircraft grounding in India may not have been as intense as in other parts of the world, but ultimately, it’s the financial stress that the country’s airlines will have to endure. All eyes are now on the European and the US markets, hoping they can pave the way for a recovery.