Rentals up post Max crisis, Jet's lessors of grounded Boeing 737 in talks with SpiceJet

NEW DELHI: Several of Jet Airways’ grounded Boeing 737s (not Max but previous generation) could soon be flying for SpiceJet. Over 50 of the cash-strapped airline’s aircraft, a mix of turboprops, narrow and wide body, have been grounded by unpaid lessors beginning last month. Barring a handful, lessors have not deregistered these aircraft from Jet’s name, repossessed and flown them out of India.


“On Saturday, three companies that leased Boeing 737 NG (new generation, not Max) to Jet and grounded them for non-payment met SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh. The aircraft are in India and in terms of processes it is easier to deregister them from Jet’s name and lease them to SpiceJet so that they can start flying the planes at the earliest,” said sources.

Globally 371 B737 Max aircraft were grounded last week following fears over its safety after two crashes within 5 months, one in Indonesia and other in Africa, that claimed 346 lives. SpiceJet, which has up to 205 of the planes on order, had to ground 12 B737 Max. Apart from these, the future delivery schedule of the rest of the planes is also uncertain now, affecting the low cost carrier’s growth plans. This has led to a spurt in demand for B737 NGs.

Among Indian carriers, B737 is the mainstay for Jet, SpiceJet and Air India Express. Monthly lease rate about a decade-old B737 NG is between $200,000 and $250,000 per month, which have risen by about 10% after the Max crisis. Clearly, keeping them on the ground is significant revenue loss for lessors in the current situation.

“We have to make good the 12 grounded Max so these many planes we will like to have on board as early as possible. The grounded B737s are being offered for dry lease (without operating crew) for one to 3 years at good rates. The overall lease rentals for B737 NGs has gone up since the grounding of the Max due to which everyone is now looking for the non-Max B737s. Once the deal is finalised, Jet’s livery will be removed from these planes and they will adorn SpiceJet livery,” said SpiceJet sources.

Five of Jet’s B737 Max are also grounded, but that happened much before the Ethiopian crash of March 10 due to non-payment of lease rentals. The airline, which is awaiting major restructuring to survive, had ordered 225 B737 Max.

SpiceJet has, meanwhile, wet-leased two aircraft from Turkey’s Corendon Airlines to tide over the crisis sparked by grounding of 12 of its B737 Max.


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