SpiceJet inducts two A 320 planes

Budget carrier SpiceJet on Monday announced the induction of two Airbus A320 planes in its fleet.

The two narrow-body planes, wet leased from Bulgarian carrier BH Air, joined the fleet on Friday, SpiceJet said in a release.

Under a wet lease arrangement, aircraft, crew as well as maintenance and insurance are provided.

With the latest induction, which has the approval of aviation regulator DGCA, SpiceJet now has 121 planes, it said.

The airline, however, did not disclose the period for which these planes have been leased.

This is the second time the Gurugram-based airline, which primarily flies Boeing planes and regional jet Bombardier Q400s, will operate Airbus-brand planes as in 2015 also it had inducted similar aircraft in the fleet on lease.

The move comes amid a continued uncertainty around the Boeing 737 Max planes, which were globally grounded in March last year, after two of these planes crashed --one in Malaysia and other in Ethiopia -- in a short span of five months, raising safety concerns.

The no-frills carrier had 13 B737 Max planes in the fleet at the time of the grounding of these planes.

SpiceJet has ordered 225 Boeing 737 MAX, for USD 22 billion. Despite facing an unprecedented crisis following the grounding of the 737 MAX, SpiceJet grew by close to 60 per cent in 2019, the airline said in the release on Monday.

SpiceJet has added more than 40 planes to its fleet since April last year, it added.