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This is an interesting snippet and for the interest of plane spotters.
At present, the two leading airlines in India are Jet Airways and IndiGo; and they also happen to be aggressively adding aircraft to their fleet. By sheer coincidence, the registration sequences for the new aircraft for both these airlines happen to be very similar. Jet’s new Boeing 737s are in the VT-JFx sequence, and IndiGo is in the VT-IFx sequence. VT-JFA (see picture here) joined the Jet fleet a couple of weeks ago, and VT-JFB just couple of days ago. IndiGo will expect its A320 VT-IFA (see picture here) within this month.
The registration number of aircraft is much like a car number plate, except in the case of aircraft it is on a national basis. All aircraft in India have their registration number commence with VT, followed by three alphabets.
Airlines, with the exception of Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines, try to use the next three alphabets as a branding of the airline’s number or abbreviation.
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| VT-VJM on take off |
So Jet Airways has VT-JAx, VT-JBx, VT-JCx (ATR-72s), VT-JEx (Boeing 777s), VT-JNx, and VT-JWx (Airbus A330s), and now VT-JFx. JetLite has VT-JLx and also VT-SJ (from the acquired Air Sahara).
Kingfisher has VT-KAx (ATR-72s), VT-KFx, VT-ADx, VT-DKx and VT-DNx (from the acquired Air Deccan), and their A330 fleet was VT-VJx (Dr. Vee Jay mallya perhaps). Dr. Mallya’s private A319 Corporate Jet is registered VT-VJM and his Boeing 727 is registered in the USA as N727VJ (all US registrations begin with N). Incidentally, VT-VJM used to always operate as Kingfisher flight 11.
SpiceJet has VT-SJx, VT-SGx (the IATA airline code for SpiceJet is SG), and VT-SUx (Q400s).
IndiGo began with VT-INx, then VT-IGx, then VT-IEx (IndiGo’s IATA code is 6E) and now VT-IFx. I wonder what passengers will make of VT-IFE, considering IndiGo’s A320s do not have an In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system, or VT-IFK or VT-IFU?
Air India’s sequences appear to be less about the airline and more about individuals. For example the current A321s in the fleet are VT-PPx (Praful Patel perhaps?). However, the Air India Express subsidiary has its 737-800s registered VT-AXx which have some wonderful tail art. Read our stories explaining the tail art of each aircraft.
Please share your interesting anecdotes or thoughts via the comments section below.
