As air traffic surges, Indian carriers grapple with grounded planes

If all 102 grounded planes could fly, there will theoretically be 400 more Delhi-Mumbai flights every day

Aviation is one of the sectors that lost no time in taking off after the Covid-19 pandemic. Naturally, airlines are in a rush to increase flights, expand networks, and augment capacity. However, they are hobbled by the aircraft in their fleet that remain “grounded”.
 

Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows 102 commercial aircraft are still grounded in India. Given that a fully functional narrow-body plane, the most common on India’s domestic routes, can make at least four flights a day of two hours in duration, theoretically we are talking more than 400 more flights every day between Delhi and