India's flybig suspends flights as lessors repo planes

Lessors are moving to reclaim their aircraft from flybig (FLG, Indore) after the regional carrier suspended its flights earlier this month. The airline only began operations three years ago and concentrated on connecting second-tier Indian cities, serving routes secured through the Indian government's UDAN regional aviation improvement scheme.

flybig was operating one ATR72-500, two ATR72-600s, and two DHC-6-400s. In October, the airline returned the ATR72-500 (VT-FBA (msn 955)) to Avation by mutual agreement' having not used it for revenue flights since late August. flybig told Indian news outlets that the flight suspensions have occurred because their remaining aircraft went out of service for maintenance purposes.

“flybig would like to emphasize that current events are a result of our decision to surrender the ATR - Avions de Transport Régional aircraft due to the aircraft’s technical issues,” flybig Chief Financial Officer Gokul Indani told the Hindu Business Line. He added that supply chain issues and difficulties securing spare parts had affected the fleet's operational efficiency, caused cancellations, and added to costs.

"The decision to surrender the ATR aircraft was made due to a global shortage of spare parts, which has extensively affected the operational efficiency of our fleet, leading to increased costs and delays. This has forced us to pause our operations in certain sectors, including the Northeast. We remain operational in Hindon-Bathinda and other routes," a spokesman told ch-aviation in an emailed statement.

"We want to assure our loyal customers that we are actively pursuing alternative solutions to address these issues and hope to resume our operations at the earliest. We are committed to finding a fast resolution and will share updates on our progress soon."

However, several media outlets say lessors have begun retrieving the remaining aircraft.

According to ch-aviation fleets advanced data, both ATR72-600s - VT-TMC (msn 1364) and VT-TMC (msn 1385) are leased from VMAN Aero Services. A VMAN spokesperson told ch-aviation that it was repossessing its ATRs because of contractual defaults Of the two Twin Otters, C-GXVV (msn 987) was delivered to flybig in October. Sistership VT-KHU (msn 951) was delivered to flybig in September.

flybig flew to 11 domestic destinations, including Agartala, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Imphal, Itanagar Donyi Polo, Kolkata, Pasighat, Patna, Rupsi, Silchar, and Tezu. The airline is aiming to resume services in January 2024.
CH Aviation