SpiceJet to Boost Capacity 40% This Year After Maran Investment

SpiceJet Ltd., the Indian discount carrier, plans to boost capacity about 40 percent this year after winning investment from billionaire Kalanithi Maran.
The airline will focus expansion on domestic routes and may add one or two international destinations, Chief Commercial Officer Samyukth Sridharan said today in an interview in Singapore. The carrier will boost its fleet to 40 planes this year from 25 now and almost double it by 2013, he said.
The airline earlier today fell the most in a month in Mumbai trading after reporting a decline in quarterly profit because of higher fuel costs. Passenger numbers in the three months ended December surged 33 percent as rising wages boosted travel and the carrier added its first overseas flights.
The airline will receive 15 Bombardier Inc. Q400 turboprops in the 13 months beginning June, Sridharan said. It will also add seven Boeing Co. planes this year, he said. The airline ordered 30 Boeing 737s and 30 Q400s last year.
There “are good signs” that the market can continue growing at rate of about 18 percent in terms of passenger numbers, Sridharan said.
27/01/11 Chan Sue Ling/Bloomberg

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Categories: spicejet Jan 2011