Rising flight fares may come under control: Companies will add 115 aircraft to the fleet this year

Domestic airlines have planned to increase flights to meet the growing passenger demand. By this financial year i.e. March 2024, companies will add about 115 aircraft to the fleet. Most of these will be delivered to Air India and Indigo. These will be used on domestic routes, which is likely to curb rising fares.
In fact, after the closure of GoFirst's service, the gap between demand and supply has increased in the domestic airline industry. Due to this, the fare on some routes has increased up to five times. Companies want to take advantage of this opportunity. These include Air India, Indigo, and SpiceJet. But Ameya Joshi, founder of the airline blog Net Work Thoughts, said, "Even if 115 new aircraft are added, it will be challenging to meet the demand."
According to industry sources, 79% of the total 115 new aircraft will be connected only to Indigo and Tata Group companies - Air India, Air India Express, and Vistara.
IndiGo, which accounts for around 60% of the domestic routes' traffic, will add around 50 new aircraft to its fleet by March 2024. A senior company official told that if the supply of engines improves, more new aircraft will be added to the fleet. 35 aircraft grounded due to engine shortage.
Tata Group's Air India will add 21 Airbus A321neo aircraft to the fleet by March next year. The company has already received four such aircraft. They will be used on domestic routes from this month itself.
A SpiceJet official said, “Lease agreements are being done with the companies. We will increase the fleet in a phased manner. By October, we will increase the capacity significantly.
Passengers increased by 47% in 2022. In May this year itself, a record 1.31 crore people traveled by air. But according to the India Brand Equity Foundation, airlines will increase capacity by only 25%.