SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International) will dry-lease a total of eleven B737-800 and B737-900s to cope with an anticipated surge in demand during the peak summer months an airline official has told Bloomberg.
But this summer season, unlike in previous years, the carrier will not seek to any wet-leases as, according to Chairman Ajay Singh, their operating contracts are not beneficial from either a cost or an operational perspective.
“(Wet-lease planes) are more expensive than the dry-lease ones. They also have issues of longer turnaround time. We cannot utilise them like the dry-lease planes. In some cases, the on-time performance gets impacted,” he said.
The Indian LCC currently operates two B737-700s, eighteen B737-800s (two of which are wet-leased from Corendon Airlines (XC, Antalya)), four B737-900(ER)s, and fourteen Dash 8-400s on regular flights throughout India as well as to Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Afghanistan, and the Maldives.
