Air India Asks Govt to Stall IndiGo Lease with Turkish Airline

Air India has lobbied Indian officials to stall its competitor IndiGo’s leasing partnership with Turkish Airlines. The Tata Group airline mentioned business impact and security concerns fueled by Turkey’s support for Pakistan amid escalating tensions between the two nuclear neighbouring nations, Reuters reported.  

The development comes at a time when IndiGo’s lease extension is nearing its May 31 deadline, and it has applied for an extension. 

Air India has asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to not allow repeated extensions of the leasing deal and argued that the practice benefits Turkey and hurts India’s aviation industry, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Tata Group's airline, however, denied such a move and said "as a responsible corporate, we do not comment on competitors".

Also Read: India-Pakistan Airspace Ban: A Roadblock for Runways

The present leasing agreement had reportedly resulted to “a substantial increase in seat capacity” to Turkey. 

In response to Indian airlines’ request to revoke Celebi’s clearance proposal, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol on social media platform X said the government is mulling over the concerns raised by carriers. 

“We have received requests from across India to ban Celebi... Recognising the seriousness of the issue and the call to protect national interests, we have taken cognizance of these requests,” said the minister. 

Indian airline major had first entered into a leasing agreement with the Turkish government-backed airlines in 2023 to provide two planes with pilots and crew to IndiGo to manage its flights on the New Delhi-and Mumbai-to-Istanbul routes. 

This comes at a time when Turkey’s stance on India-Pakistan tension has angered Indians with many even cancelling holiday bookings to the country. Following this government of India cancelled security clearance for Turkey’s airport ground handling service company, Celebi and cited national security as a reason behind its sudden decision. Just a few days back, billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Airport terminated the ground handling concession agreement with Celebi and Chinese company DragonPass. 

“Following the Government of India’s decision to revoke Celebi’s security clearance, we have terminated the ground handling concession agreements with Celebi,” said an Adani Airports spokesperson, according to cnbctv18.