Further, the higher, the better. This shows how the airline’s fleet is growing. And even if an airline is giving up some of its planes, it is doing so because these are old or the lease periods are over and thus being replaced with new ones. These lists between January 2020 (roughly three months before the covid-19 pandemic grounded the sector) and September 2021 (the last date for which this data is available) contain three stories of advances and retreats.
The first story is of calculated advances in a turbulent market: IndiGo (net addition of 35 aircraft) and Vistara (net addition of 12). The second story is of conservatism: AirAsia (net addition of 5) and Go First (net addition of 1). The third story is of booking losses today to fight another day: SpiceJet (net loss of 9 planes) and Air India (net loss of 17 planes).
Embedded in these moves are the contours of the two axis that are poised to slug it out and shape the next phase of Indian aviation. In one corner is market leader IndiGo, which strengthened its relative position in the sector during the pandemic. In the second corner is the Tata Group, which in just eight years has built controlling interests in four Indian airlines: Vistara, Air India, Air India Express and AirAsia. Between them, IndiGo and Tatas control about four-fifths of India’s domestic passenger segment and about one-third of its international segment.
Today, both IndiGo and the Tatas are putting in place blocks intended to serve them well once the sector recovers from the covid-19 pandemic, which hurt demand, and now the Russia-Ukraine war, which is hurting their costing. Each is adding planes, right-sizing, appointing new chief executives and settling old issues. In the medium to long run, India remains an aviation market that IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia recently described as “the last bastion of…