Business
IndiGo Gets Six-Month DGCA Extension To Operate Turkish-Leased Aircraft
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IndiGo welcomed the decision, citing operational stability and continuity amid ongoing global tensions.
A photo for IndiGo flight (PTI)
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the deadline to IndiGo to operate two leased Boeing 777 aircraft from Turkish Airlines. However, the extension has been granted with some conditions.
“We acknowledge the acceptance of IndiGo’s request for extension to its wet lease arrangement with Turkish Airlines, subject to conditions laid down by the regulator. This approval comes at a crucial time and will help mitigate losses to Indian aviation due to geopolitical restrictions, and greatly benefit Indian travellers during the peak travel season by ensuring a seamless, direct connection to Istanbul and points beyond,” the airline said in a statement.
According to PTI sources, DGCA has granted a six-month extension, allowing the continued operation of two Turkish Airlines aircraft under a wet/damp lease arrangement until February 28, 2026.
The wet lease arrangement involves the leasing of foreign aircraft, along with crew, maintenance and insurance. The extension has been given subject to certain conditions, including that IndiGo may consider getting these or other suitable aircraft on dry lease and operate the same on their AOC (Air Operator Certificate), the sources said.
Under dry lease, only the aircraft is leased. Beyond this extension, IndiGo may either operate the India-Turkey route with their own aircraft or any other wet/damp leased aircraft compliant with existing norms, they added.
IndiGo currently uses the Turkish-leased aircraft for direct flights between Delhi, Mumbai, and Istanbul.
In a statement issued Thursday, IndiGo welcomed the decision, citing operational stability and continuity amid ongoing global tensions.
“We are thankful to the authorities for accepting our request for extension. As always, we continue to be fully compliant with the relevant regulations and conditions of extension laid down by the authorities,” the airline said.
This development comes in the backdrop of strained diplomatic ties between India and Turkiye. In May, following Ankara’s support for Pakistan and its criticism of India’s anti-terror operations, India’s aviation security regulator BCAS revoked the security clearance of Celebi Airport Services India Pvt Ltd, a Turkish ground-handling company, citing national security concerns. In response, some travel portals and associations had even issued advisories urging Indian travellers to avoid visiting Turkiye.
(With PTI inputs)
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UniQure needs to run another study to prove that its gene therapy “actually helps people with Huntington’s disease,” a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said on a call with reporters Thursday.
The official, who requested anonymity before discussing sensitive information, confirmed the agency has asked the company to run a placebo controlled trial of its treatment, which is administered directly into the brain. UniQure has said that type of study isn’t ethical because it would require putting people under general anesthesia for hours, a characterization the official disputed.
“So what is really going on? UniQure is the latest company to make a failed therapy for Huntington’s patients,” the official said. “They likely acknowledge or understand at some deep level that their trial failed years ago, and instead of doing the right thing and running the correct clinical study, UniQure is performing a distorted or manipulated comparison in the mind of FDA.”
The comments mark the latest development in a messy public spat between UniQure and the FDA, and as the agency comes under fire for a number of recent drug approval application rejections, including some where companies have accused it of going back on previous guidance. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick last week seemingly criticized UniQure’s gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. Makary didn’t name UniQure but described its treatment.
UniQure then accused the FDA of reversing its stance that the company’s clinical trial data would be sufficient to seek approval. UniQure’s study used an outside database to measure how patients with Huntington’s disease might decline without treatment, known as an external control. UniQure has said it wouldn’t be feasible to run a true randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, considered the gold standard, because it wouldn’t be ethical to make people undergo a sham hours-long brain surgery.
The FDA official said the agency “never agreed to accept this distorted comparison” and the FDA “never makes such assurances.” Instead, the “FDA will always say, ‘Well, we have to see the data when we get it.'”
UniQure didn’t immediately comment.
The company’s stock rose more than 10% on Thursday and has fallen 58% this year as of Thursday afternoon.
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