Sending a big signal after Turkey supported Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, the Centre has asked IndiGo to end its aircraft lease agreement with Turkish Airlines within three months. The action comes just weeks after the government revoked the security clearance for a Turkish firm, Celebi Aviation, which handled services at nine key airports in India, including Delhi.
IndiGo which has leased and operates two Boeing 777s from Turkish Airlines, had a permit to do so until May 31 and had sought an extension from the Civil Aviation ministry for six months. The ministry has refused to allow this.
A statement, however, said that “to avoid passenger inconvenience due to immediate flight disruption”, IndiGo has been granted a three-month extension till August 31. The statement made it clear that this will not be extended further.
“Indigo has been granted a one-time last and final extension of three months up to 31.08.2025 for these damp-leased aircraft, based on the undertaking from the airline that, they will terminate the damp lease with Turkish Airlines within this extension period, and shall not seek any further extension for these operations,” the statement said.
IndiGo also has a codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines and, speaking to NDTV last week, the airline’s CEO Pieter Elbers had said in is compliant with regulations in India, but would make changes if required.
Pointing out that out of the over 400 aircraft in IndiGo’s fleet, only two are on lease from Turkish Airlines, the CEO had said, “Our viewpoint is we operate within the guidance of whatever is in the service agreements, compliant with the government’s regulations. If they change, we’ll adjust accordingly to make sure that we are compliant. And, for now, we continue to serve our customers… if the government were to change its set of rules, of course, we will comply with that.
“But if (there is) any pressure we feel, it is the need to make sure that we fulfil the obligations we have to all the customers who put their trust in us, who made their booking with us, who have their travel plans with us,” he had added.