Adani Group may shift grounded planes to smaller airports for parking space

MoCA informed Lok Sabha last year that 164 aircraft were grounded across 15 airports

The Adani Group is engaged in discussions with the government to relocate a significant number of grounded planes to smaller airports in Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram to free valuable parking space at its major airports like in Mumbai.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) reported in December that 24 aircraft were currently grounded at Mumbai airport. Among them, 15 planes belong to Go First and Jet Airways, both airlines went bankrupt in May 2023 and April 2019, respectively.

"We are working with the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) and MoCA to come out with guidelines (regarding the matter of shifting grounded planes). If the airline is grounded for whatever reason, then we - together with the airline, the DGCA and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) - should be able to move those aircraft from Mumbai and Ahmedabad to maybe less utilised airports like Guwahati or Trivandrum," Arun Bansal, CEO of Adani Airport Holdings Limited, told Business Standard. 

"We are pursuing that strategy with the DGCA and the MoCA. Through this, we can free the parking space at the busier airports like Mumbai," he added.

The Adani Group currently manages the airports in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Guwahati, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram. It is also building Navi Mumbai airport.

Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on December 21 stated that 95 per cent of the grounded aircraft in India were in their current position due to engine supplier Pratt and Whitney (PW) facing “supply chain issues".
 

“We have been in direct touch with PW and conveyed to them that this situation is unacceptable because air traffic in India is growing exponentially,” he had said.

When Go First halted flight operations on May 3 last year, it squarely attributed its situation to PW's failure to supply engines. Subsequently, on May 10, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) imposed a moratorium on the airline's assets, effectively preventing aircraft lessors from reclaiming their approximately 45 aircraft (along with the engines installed). 

The ruling left lessors deeply dissatisfied, resulting in these planes now sitting idle at major airports across the country. Go First used to operate a fleet of 54 planes.

Last month, IndiGo's chief financial officer Gaurav Negi said about 75 planes (about 20 per cent of the total fleet) of the airline were currently grounded due to PW engine issues. "We are working with PW on spare engine availability and are hopeful that the situation will start to improve in a few quarters from now," he noted.

On December 21 last year, MoCA informed Lok Sabha that 164 aircraft were currently grounded across 15 airports in the country. At Delhi airport 64 aircraft are lying idle, followed by Bengaluru airport with 27 grounded planes, which occupy valuable parking space.

At Delhi airport, 47 of the 64 grounded planes belong to Go First and IndiGo. Likewise, at Bengaluru airport, 26 of the 27 grounded planes are from Go First and IndiGo. Additionally, nine of the 24 grounded planes at Mumbai airport are from Go First. These grounded aircraft belonging to Go First and IndiGo are powered by PW engines.