SpiceJet, which was almost on the verge of closure, has now become one of the profitable low-cost air carriers in the country. Since 2015, when the original founder Ajay Singh took charge of the carrier, it has been on a turn-around path. Its stock rose more than 3 times to Rs. 61.9 on February 17, compared with May 2015. The chairman and managing director of SpiceJet talks about the challenges and the journey ahead for the airline. Edited excerpts:
It is two years since you took charge of the company. How has the comeback been?
Our comeback has been an exciting story.
The company was almost shut down and the management even wrote a letter to the government in December 2014 saying they are closing shop.
Our passengers panicked even as a large number of flights were cancelled. Nobody was booking tickets. Everything that can go wrong had happened; people wanted to take back the planes.
Since then, we have worked hard to take this U-turn for success.
We have had eight quarters of profit, and for 22 months in a row the load factor has been more than 92%. We have the best on-time performance compared to other airlines in India. We have also placed a large order for 200 aircraft. So, it’s a sea of change at SpiceJet.
The trust has returned which is evident in the number of people flying.
The feel-good factor is in seeing people retain their jobs in the company. Airline failures are depressing for the economy.
Kingfisher was a bad advertisement about the Indian aviation sector. We are glad that we were able to prevent another Kingfisher from happening in India.
We are flying to 6 international destinations from India and are looking at newer ones. We are also discussing code-sharing agreements with many operators.
20/02/17 Pradeesh Chandran/The Hindu
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It is two years since you took charge of the company. How has the comeback been?
Our comeback has been an exciting story.
The company was almost shut down and the management even wrote a letter to the government in December 2014 saying they are closing shop.
Our passengers panicked even as a large number of flights were cancelled. Nobody was booking tickets. Everything that can go wrong had happened; people wanted to take back the planes.
Since then, we have worked hard to take this U-turn for success.
We have had eight quarters of profit, and for 22 months in a row the load factor has been more than 92%. We have the best on-time performance compared to other airlines in India. We have also placed a large order for 200 aircraft. So, it’s a sea of change at SpiceJet.
The trust has returned which is evident in the number of people flying.
The feel-good factor is in seeing people retain their jobs in the company. Airline failures are depressing for the economy.
Kingfisher was a bad advertisement about the Indian aviation sector. We are glad that we were able to prevent another Kingfisher from happening in India.
We are flying to 6 international destinations from India and are looking at newer ones. We are also discussing code-sharing agreements with many operators.
20/02/17 Pradeesh Chandran/The Hindu
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