IndiGo “wet-leased” two Boeing 777 aircraft in 2023 to provide flights to Istanbul. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
IndiGo has given an undertaking to the DGCA that it will terminate its agreement with Turkish Airlines under which it uses the latter’s two Boeing 777 aircraft and crew to provide flights to Istanbul from New Delhi and Mumbai.
“In order to avoid passenger inconvenience due to immediate flight disruption, IndiGo has been granted a one-time last and final extension of three months upto 31. 08. 2025 for these damp leased aircraft,” according to a press statement from the aviation regulator. There have been boycott calls for Turkiye following its support for Pakistan during the military strikes along India-Pakistan border earlier this month.
The statement said that though the regulator had initially rejected their request for extending the lease arrangement beyond May 31, 2025 for six months, temporary relief for three months was granted on the basis of an assurance from the airline that it will terminate the agreement before August 31.
The airline “wet-leased” two Boeing 777 aircraft in 2023 to provide flights to Istanbul to overcome the impact of a sizeable grounding of aircraft because of issues with Pratt & Whitney engines as well as technical limitations of using its own narrowbody A321 to fly to the Turkish capital it had originally deployed. The airline was being forced to either take a mid-way fuel stop, or carry fewer passengers because of weight related considerations on the route.
Published – May 30, 2025 04:23 pm IST
