Two years on, global aviation yet to recover from covid
NEW DELHI : New Delhi: Demand for air travel is taking off globally, but there aren’t enough planes to carry all the people who want to fly with the aviation sector yet to recover from covid and the repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine war. Not enough parts are available to manufacture planes because of a persistent supply chain bottleneck, forcing several airlines to lease jets instead, often at higher prices. There’s a scramble even for those leased planes.
“Globally, the market is getting tighter," Richard Nuttall, chief executive officer of Sri Lankan Airlines, told Mint. “If you want a new aircraft, for most aircraft models you are looking at a general timeframe of 2030," he said. And “leased aircraft are not coming back to the market as originally expected because for airlines… their deliveries are delayed, (and) they cannot order new aircraft." Also read | Airlines have hit fresh turbulence.
And it's not going away anytime soon More than 70 aircraft of India’s largest carrier IndiGo are grounded due to issues with the Pratt & Whitney engines and their impending inspection, apart from a shortage of engines from the US company. Tata Group-backed Air India is awaiting parts for the refurbishment of its older fleet of aircraft. “To retrofit aircraft, there are constraints with respect to the production and certification of the seats that we need to fit.
So that might be pushed back a little bit," said Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson. “But the componentry we need to upgrade the health of the legacy wide-body aircraft in particular, that’s a little bit slower than we would hope," he added. “So, unfortunately, that's the story of the industry at the moment.
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