SpiceJet to return 3 aircraft by year-end

New Delhi: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet is mulling over sending two- three aircraft from its fleet back to plane lessors by the end of this year before the leasing period comes to an end.
If they are returned, the New Delhi-based airline will have a fleet of 16 aircraft in operations, with no plane grounded or subleased to other carriers.
An airline executive confirmed the development, saying that preliminary discussions to return the aircraft were on, though no decision has been taken yet. The executive said that SpiceJet is going to have a meeting with the leasing companies next week to decide the modalities of the return.
When contacted, SpiceJet CFO Parthasarathy Basu, however, said, "There are no plans to return any aircraft to the leasers. What we might look at is subleasing it to some other airline. We are currently in discussion with airlines like Air Nepal, who want to lease our aircraft."
SpiceJet operated the summer schedule with 19 aircraft in its fleet, out of which two had been grounded, one had gone for a 'c-check' (maintenance and repair check) and one had been subleased to the Netherlands-based low-cost airline Transavia. The remaining 15 aircraft are used for domestic flights in India.
07/10/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Categories: SpiceJet Oct 2008