Beleaguered Air India may wet lease some aircraft from its peers in a bid to operate flights normally as its services remained disrupted for the fourth day today after 180 pilots refused to report for duty.
"We are exploring all options to avoid inconvenience to our passengers in view of the strike by pilots. The options include wet leasing of aircraft from other air-carriers to deploy them into operations," an Air India source told PTI here today.
A wet lease is an arrangement under which one airline provides an aircraft, its complete crew, maintenance and insurance to another airline which pays by the number of hours operated.
The fuel, airport fees, other duties and taxes are provided for by the lessee.
Air India has already initiated talks with two major private domestic airlines for this purpose, the source added.
A wet lease generally lasts from one month to two years and is normally used in peak traffic seasons, annual heavy maintenance checks or when initiating new routes.