SpiceJet starts facilitating Covid-19 tests for passengers in India, UAE

 SpiceJet has started facilitating COVID-19 testing for its passengers in India and the UAE with the help of VFS Global, a press release issued by the airline said on Tuesday.

"As the COVID-19 negative test report has become mandatory for passengers, especially for international travel, there are rising apprehensions among travellers regarding the entire process of complying with various pre-travel requirements," it said.

Passengers can submit their samples at a "location of choice", including at home, using the "At your Doorstep" service, the airline said, adding that the appointment booking service for testing is being offered by VFS Global.

The test reports will be sent by the associated laboratory to the registered email address of the individual within 24 to 60 hours, ensuring confidentiality of the result, the release said.

In India, the passengers can visit an ICMR-approved laboratory in Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Pune to give the samples, the release said.

It mentioned that the COVID-19 test fees in India will be in accordance with the regulated prices set by local government bodies and the same rates will apply for children and adults.

"Passengers travelling from the UAE may submit their test samples at the partnered certified laboratory in Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Sharjah or at a location of choice within the UAE. The test prices will start as low as AED 160 for both children and adults," the release said.

Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

However, special international passenger flights have been operating in the country under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble arrangements formed with other countries since July.

The country started the scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

SpiceJet ferries 176 Indian students to Georgia on charter flight

 Low cost carrier SpiceJet on Saturday said it has operated a charter flight from Chennai to Tbilisi in Georgia carrying 176 students.

The airline said it will operate another charter flight to Georgia from Kochi tomorrow for 174 Indian students.

“SpiceJet is proud to operate its maiden charter flight to Georgia carrying Indian students. It gives us immense joy to help students in any manner possible and this is another example of our commitment to stand beside our fellow citizens during these tough times. We will continue our efforts in helping more Indians and foreign nationals in the days to come,” said Debashish Saha, Vice President, Regulatory and Government Affairs, at SpiceJet.

The airline’s flight from Chennai departed at 04:10 am IST and will reach Tbilisi at 11:55 am (local time). The airline’s second charter flight is scheduled to depart from Kochi at 3:45 am IST tomorrow and reach Georgia at 11:55 am (local time) the same day.

The airline had earlier operated long-haul charter flights from Amsterdam to Bengaluru and Hyderabad and from Delhi to Toronto.

Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Indian government has established separate bilateral air bubbles with countries like the USA, Germany and France. Under a bilateral bubble, airlines of both the countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions. In such conditions, charter flights are helping airlines earn cash amid uncertain travel demand and rising fuel costs.

Coronavirus impact: SpiceJet to reduce salary of employees by 10-30%

SpiceJet has initiated a 10-30 per cent pay cut for all its employees across top and mid-rung levels due to the impact of Covid-19 on its operations, the airline said on Tuesday. The airline’s Chairman and Managing Director, Ajay Singh, has also opted for a 30 per cent cut in his March salary.

In FY 18-19, Singh took home Rs 7.2 crore as salary benefits. Unfortunately, due to the lockdown, SpiceJet has been forced to announce ‘leave without pay’ for employees during 25 March - 31 March," the airline told its employees.

"However, employees who have been actively working during this period will not be affected by the ‘leave without pay’ and their salaries for this period will be reimbursed," it added.

SpiceJet announces 10-30% cut in March salary for all employees

Budget carrier SpiceJet has decided to cut 10-30 per cent salary of all its employees in March, with Chairman Ajay Singh opting for highest 30 per cent trimming in compensation, the airline said in an e-mail communication to the staff on Tuesday.

"SpiceJet management has decided to implement a pay cut between 10-30 per cent in March across our employee base. Our Chairman and Managing Director (Ajay singh), in fact, has opted for the highest cut of 30 per cent in compensation," the airline said in the communication.

Other budget carriers IndiGo and GoAir have already announced similar move earlier.

ALSO READ: IndiGo, SpiceJet hit lower circuit after govt suspends domestic flights

"These are extremely tough time and call for appropriate and exceptional measures to sale through the exceptional challenge," it said.

As tough as it seems, most Indian carriers have already announced a pay cut for their employees, SpiceJet said.

"Unfortunately SpiceJet is not too immune to the situation which has unquestionably affected the airlines in the most severe form across the globe.

"Therefore in our bid to stay lean, and under absolutely unavoidable circumstances, we have been forced to take certain bold decisions, which will help the SpiceJet family surmount these difficult times," the letter said.

ALSO READ: CRISIL downgrades ratings for SpiceJet to 'B' as business takes hit

SpiceJet to suspend most international flights till April-end

SpiceJet has announced that it was "forced" to suspend majority of its international flight operations from Saturday till the end of the next month due to the "unprecedented situation" arising over the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"Our Chennai-Colombo flight will restart from the 25th March, 2020, while our Delhi-Dubai and Mumbai-Dubai flights will resume from 16th April, 2020," the official added.

SpiceJet to launch 20 new flights for daily services on domestic routes

No-frills carrier SpiceJet on Wednesday said it will launch 20 new flights on its domestic routes, including some services under the government's regional connectivity scheme, Udan, from late next month as part of the airline's summer schedule.

The new flights, starting from March 29, include services to Patna from Amritsar, Varanasi and Guwahati. Besides, it will also launch flights on Hyderabad-Mangaluru, Bengaluru-Jabalpur and Mumbai-Aurangabad routes, all under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), for the first time on its network, the airline said in a release.

The new services will fly daily and will be operated by a mix of Boeing 737-800 and Bombardier Q400 aircraft, it stated.

These services will enhance connectivity between key metros and smaller cities, it said.

With the commencement of these new flights, the airline will have a total of 52 flights connecting 12 cities under the RCS scheme, SpiceJet said.

"We are excited to announce the launch of 20 new domestic flights. As we add newer cities and flights to our network, our focus remains firmly on connecting the unconnected parts of the country besides enhancing connectivity between metros and non-metros," SpiceJet Chief Commercial Officer Shilpa Bhatia was quoted as saying in the release.

SpiceJet said it will also enhance its operations with additional frequencies on the Mumbai-Bagdogra and Mumbai-Chennai routes with the addition of a second and fifth flight, respectively..

The Hyderabad-Mangaluru and Guwahati-Delhi sectors would also have an additional flight in the summer schedule.

SpiceJet re-starts 3 Boeing 737 freighter aircraft ops that were grounded

No-frills carrier SpiceJet on Monday said it has re-started operations of three Boeing 737 freighter aircraft that were grounded earlier this month.

The three planes were grounded due to a "potential defect" after an advice from Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) that had converted these aircraft into freighters.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, the airline said the three grounded B737 freighter aircraft shall return to operations effective December 23, 2019 basis the resolution provided by IAI.

SpiceJet has four freighter planes that operate on domestic as well as international routes. Out of them, three were converted by IAI.

The budget carrier has a fleet of 118 planes, including the freighters.

Shares of SpiceJet were trading at Rs 93.15, down 2.97 per cent on BSE in morning trade.

SpiceJet trades lower for fifth straight day, hits eight-month low

Shares of SpiceJet were trading lower for the fifth straight session, down 2.5 per cent at Rs 96.85 on the BSE on Friday in an otherwise firm market. The stock of India’s second biggest airline in terms of market share was quoting at its lowest level since April 11, 2019.

In the past six days, SpiceJet's share price has slipped 7 per cent after Boeing announced last week that it would suspend producing 737 Max planes as the certification process of the safety of these planes by the Federal Aviation Administration would move into 2020. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 1.8 per cent during the same period.

“Boeing’s decision to halt 737 MAX productions could impact India’s aviation sector in many ways. In the end of 2016, SpiceJet had firmed up orders for 205 new planes from Boeing with 155 of them being 737 MAXs. Boeing’s decision to suspend production could trouble SpiceJet’s aggressive fleet expansion plans,” Business Standard reported. 

On December 13, SpiceJet informed the stock exchanges that it has grounded three of its B737 freighter aircraft on the advice of the Israeli Aerospace Industries (“IAI”), which converted these aircraft to freighters. These aircraft will return to operations after regulatory clearance, it said.

However, since November 13, the stock has underperformed the market by falling 15 per cent, after SpiceJet reported a higher-than-expected loss of Rs 460 crore due to the adverse impact from the grounding of the 737 MAX planes as well as seasonality. The management said "the continued grounding of the 737MAX has hit our growth plans adversely and resulted in inefficient operations and as a result, increased in costs".

The stock has now slipped 38 per cent from its 52-week high level of Rs 157, hit on June 3, 2019. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 3 per cent during the same period.

SpiceJet, Emirates sign codeshare agreement for flight ticket bookings

SpiceJet on Monday said it has signed a codeshare agreement with Emirates that will allow passengers of the Dubai-based airline to book tickets on the Indian budget carrier using Emirates' ticketing system from early 2020.

"The codeshare agreement means travellers from across the globe can book a single ticket with attractive fares to any of Emirates' nine points across India and connect onwards to 172 domestic routes that are part of SpiceJet's network," the Indian budget carrier said in a press release.

While passengers of Emirates will be able to access the SpiceJet network first from early 2020, SpiceJet passengers travelling from India to Dubai will also be able to access Emirates' expansive network later, opening up multiple international connections for them.

SpiceJet reports Rs 462-crore loss in Sep quarter on higher costs

SpiceJet on Wednesday reported a loss of Rs 462 crore for the September quarter, its first quarterly loss during the current

financial year. This was on the back of higher costs during a seasonally weak quarter.

The numbers could havebeen worse, if the Rs 171-crore compensation from aircraft manufacturer Boeing wasn’t accounted for — a component that was contested by the airline’s auditor. SpiceJet has claimed compensation from Boeing for the grounding of the 737 Max. However, the process hasn’t been started by Boeing yet. The airline had claimed compensation of Rs 114 crore in the previous quarter, and is yet to receive the amount.

Boeing has announced a $4.9-billion compensation for the grounding. “What we are claiming is only partial compensation. In reality, the compensation amount would have been higher as I have suffered losses by being forced to fly old aircraft, paying airport charges, and crew salary for aircraft not being flown. The compensation amount is legitimate,” said SpiceJet Chief Financial Officer Kiran Koteshwar.

Despite improving yield,the numbers slipped into the red, hit by high maintenancecosts and lease rental. This was an outcome of the airline taking over old Jet Airways aircraft, in the absence of the 737 Max.

“Due to the absence of the Max, there was huge asymmetry in operations, with us operating twin class 167-seater aircraft, while we prefer the single class 189-seater.

That adds to our costs. Aircraft maintenance costs also crept higher. We expect the Max to return early next year,” Koteshwar added.

SpiceJet has also been forced to wet-lease five old aircraft from the market on account of non-delivery of the Max. “As of now, we have five aircraft that are wetleased, and operating. We don’t have any robust capacity addition plan, but we may

have to lease more aircraft if the Max is delayed,” he said.

SpiceJet’s maintenance cost grew 45 per cent year-onyear in the September quarter.

Total expenses rose 54.7 per cent to Rs 3,537.49 crore, even though fuel costs fell 77per cent to Rs 63.25 crore. Besides, the airline warned on Wednesday that the threshold for a fare hike had decreased substantially, on account of the ongoing economic

slump — the second to do so after IndiGo. “There is some palpable impact of the economic slowdown, if Diwali fares are anything to go by,” said Koteshwar.

SpiceJet Q2 preview: Analysts estimate 8x EBITDAR growth, loss to narrow

Budget carrier SpiceJet was trading flat ahead of its September quarter results (Q2FY20), slated to be announced later today.

At 9:48 AM, the stock was trading 0.22 per cent lower at Rs 114.8 per share, as against an unchanged S&P BSE Sensex. Thus far in 2019, the low-cost carrier (LCC) has outperformed the benchmark index. The counter has surged 29 per cent YTD, relative to a 12 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex.

The LCC, in the previous quarter of the current fiscal (Q1FY20), reported a standalone profit of Rs 261.7 crore, while the operating revenue was Rs 3,002.1 crore. Further, the EBITDA was Rs 620.8 crore. On a consolidated basis, the net profit stood at Rs 262.89 crore.

Here’s what leading brokerages expect from the results:

Edelweiss Securities

The brokerage sees loss of Rs 322.4 crore in the recently concluded quarter due to seasonal weakness. The airline had reported a loss of Rs 389.4 crore in Q2FY19.

“We expect SpiceJet to report losses in Q2FY20 due to seasonal weakness, albeit lower YoY. Additionally, we expect the airline to continue to clock robust revenue passenger kilometers (RPKM) growth (up 46 per cent YoY) versus mid-single-digit industry growth, coupled with 3-5 per cent YoY rise in yields, despite seasonal weakness,” analysts at Edelweiss wrote in their results preview note.

The brokerage pegs the EBITDAR growth at 8x at Rs 247.5 crore, due to decline in crude oil prices. It, however, cautions that the EBITDAR growth could be off-set by hike in lease rates and forex losses (depreciating rupee) due to translation of lease liabilities. The EBITDAR was Rs (-) 43.8 crore in Q2FY19.

“Although industry growth has slowed down considerably to nearly 5 per cent, the airline continues to capitalise on the vacuum left by Jet Airways’ shutdown. It has, in fact, grown at 9x industry, accounting for bulk of the slots vacated by Jet. Consequently, top-line growth remains robust at 51 per cent at SpiceJet aided by yield expansion,” it said.

They expect a sequential decline of 89.1 per cent, and 3.8 per cent YoY, in passenger load factor (PLF) for the quarter under review, and would eye the management’s commentary on resumption of 737 Max deliveries

The brokerage has a ‘buy’ rating on the counter, with a target price of Rs 173 apiece.

Prabhudas Lilladher

Analysts at PL, too, expect India’s second largest airline to report losses in the recently concluded quarter, but expects a rise in sales revenue on the back of increased capacity expansion and higher load factor.

“Although domestic passenger traffic grew by ~2 per cent over April-August, we expect SpiceJet to report 50 per cent YoY growth in sales on the back of 28 per cent/45 per cent increase in 2Q capacity and higher load factors,” they wrote in their results preview note.

The brokerage pegs the sales revenue at Rs 2,817 crore, up 50.3 per cent from Rs 1,874.8 crore logged in Q2FY19. This would, however, translate to a 6.2 sequential decline. Besides, the EBITDAR is estimated at Rs 329.1 crore, with a margin of 11.7 per cent.

“SpiceJet inducted ~5 aircrafts taking its fleet count to 111 aircrafts. We expect the airline to report revenue growth of 50 per cent YoY aided by 3 per cent increase in yields and high load factors (91 per cent). However, it continues to be impacted by the continued grounding of Boeing 737 Max,” the brokerage said.

All Boeing Max aircraft have been grounded worldwide since mid-March of this year, following two fatal crashes that killed over 300 people. As per reports, Boeing expects the B737 Max to receive US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval by the end of this year towards its certification of the plane’s flight control software Further, they expect the aircraft to be back in use by January, 2020.

Prabhudas Lilladher has a ‘buy’ rating on the stock, with a target price of Rs 198.

Tax cuts a must to make Indian airlines globally competitive: SpiceJet CMD

As India has emerged as the one of the fastest growing civil aviation markets of the world, it is time that the government take steps to make the aviation sector globally competitive beginning with reduction on its tax structure, the head of a low-cost airline has said.

Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, in an interview to PTI rued that the civil aviation sector in India is highly taxed and identified it as one of the major stumbling blocks in making it globally competitive.

"I think lowering of taxes and looking at aviation in a holistic sense as a job creator, as something that connects India to itself and to the world. It's important that we take a more holistic approach to aviation," he said

Singh was in Washington DC last week as part of a business delegation that accompanied Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who was here to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

"What we have been asking for a very long time now is that the government should make Indian aviation competitive with its peers around the world. We should make sure that our costs are in line with our peers around the world," he said.

India, Singh said, is the only country which taxes aviation fuel at an average of about 35 per cent while no other significant aviation country in the world taxes fuel at all.

As such Indian carriers are paying a much higher cost of operation and, therefore, they are not competitive with others. That is one big issue, he said.

"The second big issue is on the maintenance and repair operations. In maintenance and repair operations as well, we pay a GST of 18 per cent," he added.

MROs (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul) is one space where India can be doing exceedingly well, Singh said.

"We can be repairing our own aircraft. We have the engineering skills. We have the people in India to do this. We have the infrastructure to do it. We have the skills. And despite that a lot of repair and overall active activity actually happens overseas because of the high tax in India," he said.

"As such, it is important to understand that if one imposes such high taxes, then nobody gets any work done and therefore there is no revenue. And when there is no revenue, there's no tax either, he observed.

"So you have to moderate taxes. India can be a huge global base for repair and overall not only for the airlines within India, but for for airlines outside India. So that's a space that we certainly need to look at," Singh said.

He asserted that it is also important that India should build its own international hubs like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Singapore and Bangkok and stop exporting traffic into these hubs and allowing them to distribute traffic around the word.

"It's important for a large country like India to have people go directly from Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore and Hyderabad to Europe and the US and the far east. So, we need to ensure that a policy action is taken on that front," Singh said.

He said India has to start looking at the aviation sector in a holistic sense and try and make sure that the system does not make it burdensome to operate the businesses.

"We have to ensure that aviation, the airlines themselves succeed," he said.

Of the BRICS countries, Singh said India remains the only one where there is no major assembly facility of either Boeing or Airbus.

That's a space that the government definitely needs to work on, he said.

Observing that India is a very large market, he said there is need to encourage people to come and start build something within India.

"I think the on engine repair for example, again, we need to ensure that a larger engine makers like CFM or Pratt and or Rolls Royce, start by setting up at least the maintenance and repair facilities within India," Singh said.

In the aviation sector, a lot is possible and a lot can be done especially if it is small planes, helicopters, aircraft components, etc, he said.

"But I think we have to work as one team India. The corporate sector as well as the government have to work aggressively with foreign companies that own the technology to encourage them to build in India," Singh said.

DGCA suspends licenses of two SpiceJet pilots over technical lapses

Aviation regulator DGCA has suspended the flying licences of two SpiceJet pilots for four months for lapses that led to pressurisation failure onboard a Hyderabad-Jaipur flight in June, according to a senior official.

The lapses of the crew jeopardised the safety of aircraft and its occupants, as per the watchdog.

A SpiceJet Boeing 737-800 plan made an air turn back due to pressurisation failure on June 14 this year.

The official noted that the crew forgot to put the "bleed switch to 'ON' position during cockpit preparation, departure briefiing and after takeoff checklist which resulted into pressurisation failure during climb".

Generally, bleed air switch is used to maintain cabin pressure.

Captain Sunil Mehta, who was commanding the plane, and Captain Vikram Singh have been suspended for four months from the date of the incident, the official added.

The DGCA found that at the time of finalising "'after takeoff checklist', Singh called out bleeds 'ON', however, bleeds were still in 'OFF' position which resulted in pressurisation failure during climb", as per an order dated September 27.

There was no immediate comment from SpiceJet.

SpiceJet to shift its entire Mumbai ops to terminal T2 from October

A day after announcing shifting its operations to T3 in Delhi, budget carrier SpiceJet Tuesday said it will move its operations to the T2 in Mumbai from October to streamline its operations.

The airline currently operates 150 daily flights to and out of the city airport, most of which are from the old terminal- 1B.

In the past low-cost airlines were resisting the airport operator's demand to move to T2 citing higher slot charges and the resultant higher operational cost.

"From October 1, our entire operations at the Mumbai airport will be consolidated at T2. A single terminal operation would not just help us substantially cut down its costs but provide passengers a seamless and smooth travel experience," Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director said in a statement.

The city airport has at present two terminals--IB and T2. While terminal IB at Santacruz handles domestic flights, T2, which is at the Sahar side in Andheri, has both international as well as domestic operations.

Besides Air India and Vistara, which have their entire operations from T2, SpiceJet and IndiGo partially operate domestic flights from T2 as well in addition to their overseas operations.

GoAir has its entire domestic operations from terminal 1B and the international one from T2.

In the past four months, SpiceJet has announced 78 new flights connecting Mumbai, the airline added.

SpiceJet posts highest Q1 profit at Rs 262 cr on compensation from Boeing

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which was on the verge of shutting down in 2015, posted its highest profit at Rs 261.7 crore in the April to June quarter, though a compensation of Rs 114.1 crore has helped. The airline claimed this compensation amount from Boeing for the grounding of 13 737MAX aircraft, which was disputed by the company’s auditor.

“We draw attention to the statement, regarding recognition of other income. In our view, there is no virtual certainty to recognise such other income, as required by accounting standards of Ind-AS 37. Had the company not recognised such other income, profit for the quarter would have been lower and accumulated losses as on June 30, 2019, higher by Rs 1,141.4 million (Rs 114.14 crore),” the company’s auditor S R Batliboi & Associates stated, indicating that discussions with Boeing on the compensation amount hasn’t been finalised yet.

Chief Financial Officer Kiran Koteshwar, however, said the company would receive a higher compensation but it had accounted only for Rs 140 crore as it was certain about getting that amount as lease rental payment to lessors.

“This is a compensation which is a no brainer as this is already sitting on my books. As a listed entity, I didn’t give any guidance to my investors for compensations on the other items which I am still not certain of,” Koteshwar said. He was replying to a query on whether it was proper to factor in the compensation, which the carrier is yet to get.

US plane maker Boeing has disclosed an amount of $4.9 billion as payment to customers, including compensation to airlines for the grounding and delayed deliveries of 737MAX aircraft.

Koteshwar argued that the company continued to incur expense on the grounded aircraft without generating any revenue. ‘’I have a contractual obligation with the lessors, airports, crews to pay them irrespective of the grounding. Then there are maintenance costs. The profit reported for this quarter is an operational profit in a true sense as the company should not consider the expenses on 737MAX as they are not revenue generating,” he said.

Chart He, however, refused to give a guidance on the amount of total compensation, saying the discussions were still going on and the amount could change depending on the duration of the grounding. Boeing, which had previously told SpiceJet that the 737MAX would be back in the air by July, has now told the airline that the plane may not fly before the end of this year, Koteshwar said. Any further delay may force the airline to cancel the order, he added. “If there is no capacity addition, that airline will be pushed into a corner. As an organisation, we may have long-term relationship with Boeing, but if the aircraft doesn’t come in the next 8-10 months, the airline will be forced to look beyond for a new order,” he pointed out. SpiceJet has also been forced to trim its capacity induction because of the delivery delay.

The airline in March had said that it was looking to add 60 planes in FY20 but now has a forecast of adding only 10-15 planes till October, including five to 10 Boeing 737 NG aircraft and three 90-seater Q-400.

The addition will be a mix of dry and wet lease. Wet lease is costlier and pushes up an airline’s expense, but Koteshwar said it was necessary to cater to the growth in traffic. “The third quarter is usually a peak quarter and because we don’t want to lose on traffic, we may take some on wet lease. Those will be for shorter period of around six months,” he said. Also, it will be easier to replace the aircraft on wet lease as and when the delivery of 737 Max resumes.

“SpiceJet reported better than expected numbers driven by higher fares but there’s some sharp jump in costs (fuel, employees and other expense) mostly due to induction of Jet Airways fleet and crew. Arresting the rise in cost, post induction of the Jet fleet, will be very important,” Ansuman Deb, who tracks airlines for brokerage firm ICICI Securities, said in a note.

SpiceJet Q4 net profit jumps 22% to Rs 56.3 cr on higher ticket revenue

SpiceJet has added 25 planes to its fleet and plans to include 35 more this financial year, said officials of the low-cost carrier.

The airline on Tuesday reported a 22 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 56.3 crore in the quarter ended March 31 despite grounding of its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The rise in profit is aided by higher ticket prices. It had posted a profit of Rs 46.2 crore in the last quarter of FY18. Its capacity (in terms of seat kilometer) saw a 21 per cent rise while average fare rose 11 per cent. The airline reported a net loss of Rs 316.1 crore in the Q4FY19.

Airline’s Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said: “SpiceJet has posted a strong recovery in the last two quarters after suffering a loss of Rs 427.5 crore in the first two quarters due to a steep increase in fuel costs and sudden depreciation of the rupee. This recovery comes despite the unprecedented challenges in Q4FY19, which saw the grounding of as many as 13 of our MAX planes.”

SpiceJet took advantage of Jet Airways collapse as it inducted 22 of the grounded planes to ramp up its capacity, and has plans to induct up to 40 aircraft.

SpiceJet posts 22% rise in Q4 net profit on higher ticket revenue “The deals we have for Jet are primarily for those having a lower maintenance cost. We will not be exposed to any additional maintenance cost more than which will be required. We just pay for the usage of aircraft,” said firm’s CFO Kiran Koteshwar. The airline has started business class services, but Koteshwar said it would review the viability once the peak season ends.

“We are low-cost by heart. We have not launched a business class project. We didn’t want to ground the aircraft. After the peak season is over, after June and July, we will take a look to continue with the business class or not. All our new planes will be 189 seaters,” Koteshwar said.

SpiceJet hires 500 Jet Airways pilots and employees, may induct more

Budget carrier SpiceJet Friday said it has already absorbed over 500 employees, including 100 pilots, of the grounded carrier Jet Airways and it is open to induct more as it adds more aircraft and routes in the times ahead.

The Gurugram-based no-frills airline has already announced induction of 27 more planes -22 Boeing 737s and five turboprop Bombardier Q400s - in the fleet to help overcome to an extent the capacity deficit due to Jet Airways temporarily withdrawing its domestic and international services.

SpiceJet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh in a statement Friday said that his carrier is giving "first preference" to Jet Airways staff in recruitment.

 

"As we expand and grow, we are giving first preference to those who have recently lost their jobs due to the unfortunate closure of Jet Airways," Singh said.

He said that SpiceJet has already provided jobs to more than 100 pilots, over 200 cabin crew and 200 plus technical and airport staff recently.

"We will do more. We will also induct a large number of planes in our fleet soon," Singh added.

The carrier Thursday announced the launch of 24 new flights connecting Mumbai & Delhi with 16 services connecting Mumbai and four Delhi while the remaining four connecting the two metros. These flights are set to be rolled out between April 26 and May 2.

Earlier this week, the carrier said it will connect Mumbai to a host of international destinations with direct non-stop flights to Hong Kong, Jeddah, Dubai, Colombo, Dhaka, Riyadh, Bangkok and Kathmandu, starting May-end.

"SpiceJet is making all possible efforts to minimise passenger inconvenience and serve Indian customers who are finding it difficult to get seats in this busy season," Singh added.