India's GoAir to lease out A320neos due to pilot shortage

GoAir (G8, Mumbai Int'l) will explore options to lease out some of its incoming Airbus A320neo as it faces a shortage of pilots for the type, the Economic Times has reported citing people with knowledge of developments.

"The scarcity of commander pilots is a reality and GoAir is already feeling the pinch. The airline has been mulling a plan to lease out some of its A320neo planes, possibly from the ones yet to be delivered," one of the sources said.

The Indian LCC adopted a strategy to hire predominantly local cockpit staff and train its own captains but is currently unable to maintain a sufficiently high rate of training. Hiring foreign pilots remains an option but would raise labour costs for the airline.

According to the ch-aviation fleets module, GoAir currently has an all-A320 fleet with nineteen A320-200s and seventeen A320neo. It has a further 127 A320neo on order with Airbus. It is one of the largest customers of the programme globally, although much smaller than local rival IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l) which has already taken delivery of thirty-eight A320neo and has a further 369, as well as twenty-five A321neo, on order.