Go First cut flights even after Centre removed Covid-19 pandemic cap

IndiGo, which was also hit by engine woes, carried out more flights

When the Indian government removed the pandemic-induced capacity restrictions on domestic carriers in October 2021, the entire aviation sector breathed a sigh of relief. Since then, the situation got better for carriers like IndiGo and Air India, but not for Go First.

While 13 planes of Go First were grounded in March last year, this number increased to 22 by the same month this year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium's data. On Tuesday, the airline said 25 of its planes are currently grounded.

As more and more planes from its 57 aircraft fleet got grounded due to a delay in engine supply by Pratt & Whitney (PW), the airline’s flight network got almost cut in half. It operated about 2,771 flights per week in April 2022. This came down to 1,362 flights per week in April 2023, according to Cirium’s data.

In the same time period (April 2022-April 2023), India’s largest carrier IndiGo boosted its flight network by about 10 per cent. Interestingly, even IndiGo has been affected by the delay in engine supply by the US-based engine maker. 

However, the issue of aircraft-on-ground (AOG) has not hurt IndiGo as much as Go First for two reasons: IndiGo is a huge airline, and its new planes are not powered by PW engines. IndiGo had in 2019 shifted from PW to CFM as the former's engines had been suffering from glitches.

The number of AOG for IndiGo was 29 in March 2022. This increased to 34 in one year, shows the data. In the same year, the airline’s total aircraft fleet increased from 278 to 304, with the new CFM-powered planes allowing it to expand the flight network.

Meanwhile, Air India came under the control of the Tata group in January last year. Since then, it has brought many of its grounded planes — which were not flying due to lack of funding for equipment — back to service. Moreover, it has leased new planes. This has helped its boost its flight network.

According to the Cirium data, Air India has increased its flights by 23 per cent year-on-year in April. The carrier was operating about 2,217 flights per week in April last year. This has increased to 2,728 flights per week in April 2023.