SpiceJet has signed the lease for four Boeing 737 MAX which were earlier operated by Jet Airways India Ltd, Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh told shareholders at the airline's annual general meeting today.
In addition to these four MAX aircraft, 10-12 MAX planes are also ready to be delivered to SpiceJet in the US, Singh added.
While DGCA has said in the recent past that it will be conservative in a resumption of MAX service in India, customer SpiceJet has been optimistic of the aircraft's return soon.
"They have fixed the issues in MCAS (flight control system of the aircraft called Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System). They have told us that the plane will fly again by November. The certification process should be completed by October," a senior executive at SpiceJet had recently said.
SpiceJet has a total order-book of 205 planes, out of which 155 are firm orders and 50 are options.
The 12 MAX aircraft of SpiceJet, which have already been inducted, are grounded since March after a global grounding of this aircraft type post two fatal accidents.
Boeing's fastest-selling model, the MAX aircraft, was grounded worldwide in March following safety concerns after a second fatal crash involving this aircraft. While the first tragic crash was a Lion Air flight in late October 2018, the second one was that of Ethiopian Airlines in March this year.
In July, the US aviation regulator FAA had found a new potential risk in Boeing's MAX family of aircraft and had asked the company to mitigate it.
