Turkey’s Support to Pakistan: IndiGo to Terminate Agreement with Turkish Airlines
NEW DELHI, May 30: IndiGo has given an undertaking to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (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.
The undertaking was given after the Centre, sending out a big signal after Turkey supported Pakistan during “Operation Sindoor,” asked IndiGo to end its aircraft lease agreement with Turkish Airlines within three months. The action came just weeks after the government revoked the security clearance for a Turkey-linked firm, Celebi Aviation, which handled services at nine key airports in India, including Delhi.
IndiGo, which has leased and operates two Boeing 777s from Turkish Airlines, had a permit to do so until May 31 and had sought an extension from the Ministry of Civil Aviation for six months. The ministry has refused to allow this. A statement from the ministry, however, said “to avoid passenger inconvenience due to immediate flight disruption”, IndiGo has been granted a three-month extension till August 31. The ministry made it clear that this will not be extended further.
“Indigo has been granted a one-time last and final extension of three months up to 31.08.2025 for these damp-leased aircraft, based on the undertaking from the airline that, they will terminate the damp lease with Turkish Airlines within this extension period, and shall not seek any further extension for these operations,” it said.
The statement said 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.
IndiGo also has a codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines and its CEO Pieter Elbers had said it was compliant with regulations in India, but would make changes if required. Pointing out that out of the over 400 aircraft in IndiGo’s fleet, only two are on lease from Turkish Airlines, the CEO had said, “Our viewpoint is we operate within the guidance of whatever is in the service agreements, compliant with the government’s regulations. If they change, we’ll adjust accordingly to make sure that we are compliant. And, for now, we continue to serve our customers… if the government were to change its set of rules, of course, we will comply with that.
“But if (there is) any pressure we feel, it is the need to make sure that we fulfil the obligations we have to all the customers who put their trust in us, who made their booking with us, who have their travel plans with us,” he had added.
On May 15, the Centre had revoked the security clearance for Celebi Aviation and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol had said, “Turkey had openly supported Pakistan. In view of the current situation, this has become an issue of national security. Keeping security in mind, Celebi has been banned in the country.” The company had challenged the move in at least two high courts and the Delhi High Court had later said, “The rule is better safe than sorry.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
