Few Gulf airlines eyeing stake in SpiceJet, says Ajay Sinha

No-frills airline SpiceJet has said that certain airlines from the Gulf have shown interest in picking up stake in the company. While the airline did not mention which Gulf aviation companies were keen on buying into SpiceJet, the company's chairman Ajay Singh said that they were not looking to dilute stake at this time.

Two leading Gulf airlines, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways both have bought stakes in multiple airlines to expand their operations, routes and fleet.

The airline is in talks with Boeing and Airbus to buy more than 150 planes, Singh said on Sunday, predicting he would decide which manufacturer to place the order with by the end of March 2016.

Such an investment would cap a remarkable turnaround for India's second-biggest budget airline by market share, which came close to collapse late last year after running out of cash.

Singh subsequently bought back into the airline, acquiring a controlling stake. SpiceJet has reported profits in the past three quarters, having made losses in the five preceding quarters.
30/11/15 dna

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Flight delayed by 7 hours over threat message

A Jet Airways flight to Kuwait carrying 158 passengers and eight crew members was delayed by seven hours on Saturday night after one of the passengers noticed a threat message scribbled on a note inside the aircraft.
The message was noticed by a passenger when the aircraft was taxiing, after which the cabin crew was alerted. The aircraft then had to return to the bay to get security clearance.
After the security clearance, the aircraft was able to take off only after seven hours on Sunday morning. A source from the Mumbai airport said the Jet Airways flight 9W 574 Mumbai to Kuwait was taxing on the main runway at about 10.15 pm on Saturday to take off. Minutes after taxiing, the pilot of the aircraft contacted the Air Traffic Control Center (ATC) of the airport and informed them that a bomb threat message had been found scribbled on a safety card. The ATC then asked them to the bay.
According to a senior security official at the Mumbai Airport, the message read, “There is a bomb under your seat, this will be the last flight.”
When the aircraft reached the bay, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was alerted. The CISF, along with officials of Mumbai airport limited, local police and bureau of civil aviation security created a team and as per the standard operating procedure (SOP), the bomb and dog squad was alerted.
All the passengers, meanwhile, were off loaded, and the aircraft, along with the passengers’ checked-in bags, were searched. No bomb or a suspicious object was found on board.
30/11/15 Ashita Dadheech/The Asian Age

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SpiceJet offer: Special ‘red hot fares’ sale cuts ticket prices to AED 244

New Delhi: The latest Spicejet offer unveiled today has priced one-way tickets at a starting low of AED 244 (approx. Rs 4,438) base fare (statutory taxes applicable). In addition to the offer, Spicejet has announced that it will enhance its connectivity from Dubai to a host of Indian cities by increasing frequencies on multiple routes.
The new Spicejet offer celebrates UAE’s 44th National Day, the budget airline said in a statement. The offer is for outgoing direct flights from Dubai to Indian destinations served by SpiceJet.
The SPicejet offer with one-way base fares starting at AED 244 are for travel  from Dubai to Mumbai, Kochi and Kozhikode while base fares starting from AED 344 would be applicable for travel from Dubai to Delhi, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Madurai and Pune.
The Spicejet offer will be open from 29th November 2015 till 3rd December, 2015 midnight and the travel period covered in this sale is from 1st February to 29th October, 2016.
29/11/15 Financial Express

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SpiceJet plans more flights from Dubai to India

Dubai: SpiceJet on Sunday said it would operate more number of flights from here to various Indian cities.

Celebrating UAE's 44th National Day, the low cost carrier has announced special one-way ticket offers for its flights from Dubai, starting from base fare of AED 244 (over Rs 4,400).

The airline would enhance its connectivity from Dubai to a host of Indian cities by increasing frequencies on multiple routes, SpiceJet said in a statement.

"Dubai is SpiceJet's key international market. We will continue to increase our presence here. Our customers can expect many more flights and many more exciting offers in the coming months," the carrier's Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said.
29/11/15 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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SpiceJet to choose between Boeing, Airbus for planes

Dubai: SpiceJet is in talks with Boeing and Airbus to buy more than 150 planes, the airline’s chairman said on Sunday, predicting he would decide which manufacturer to place the order with by the end of March 2016.

Such an investment would cap a remarkable turnaround for India’s second-biggest budget airline by market share, which came close to collapse late last year, after running out of cash.

SpiceJet co-founder Ajay Singh subsequently bought back into the airline, acquiring a controlling stake. SpiceJet has reported profits in the past three quarters, having made losses in the five preceding quarters.

Singh now wants to more than quadruple the carrier’s fleet from 41 aircraft at present.
“We are in the process of placing a large aircraft order; the airline will order in excess of 150 planes — we hope to do that in this financial year,” Singh, who is SpiceJet’s chairman and managing director, told a news conference here. Its financial year will end in March.
“We’re looking at both Airbus and Boeing. The (Boeing 737) Max aircraft as well as the (Airbus A320) Neo. We have received offers from both of them,” Singh said.

He said the order would be with a single manufacturer, declining to estimate the likely value of the deal because negotiations were ongoing.
30/11/15  Reuters/Deccan Herald

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SpiceJet Says It's Received Interest From Gulf Airlines

Indian budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd., which has surged more than 280 percent this year, said it’s received interest from Gulf airlines looking to acquire a stake.
“Some of the Gulf airlines have expressed an interest in SpiceJet as we have come back into the market, but this is not the right time to be diluting the equity,” Chairman Ajay Singh said in Dubai Sunday, without naming the companies. “There is some dialogue which is ongoing and we continue to explore other types of relationships we could have,” he said, adding now isn’t the right time to sell a stake as the shares remain undervalued.
Gulf carriers including Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways PJSC and Qatar Airways Ltd. have acquired stakes in airlines to quickly expand their networks. Etihad has stakes in eight companies, while Qatar Airways Ltd. said earlier this month that it was interested in boosting its 10 percent holding in British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group SA and taking up to 49 percent of Indian budget carrier IndiGo.
29/11/15 Matthew Martin/Bloomberg.com

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SpiceJet plans to place order for 100-150 planes

Mumbai: After posting profits in the first two quarters of the current fiscal, SpiceJet plans to order 100-150 aircraft and is in talks with the major aircraft manufacturers for the same.
During the winter schedule the airline will look to operate 291 flights across the country in order to rope in tourists who look to travel during the winter months.
In order to consolidate its operations and expand at the same time, the airline is looking to buy both big and narrow bodied airlines, so that it can operate in smaller airports in the tier III and tier IV towns.
“We are in talks with manufacturers for an order of 100-150 aircrafts of large and small aircrafts. The order is likely to be finalised early next year,” said Shilpa Bhatia, senior vice-president, commercial, SpiceJet.
After facing rough times in December 2014 when it had reached the brink of closure the airline was forced to cut down on the routes it used to operate.
In order to revive the company’s fortunes, the team under the airlines’ promoter and chairman, Ajay Singh focused on two of the most crucial aspects of running an airline i.e, improved ground operations and higher utilisation of aircrafts.
28/11/15 Malyaban Ghosh/Financial Express

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‘Zero baggage’ fares may not fly

Mumbai:  Any drop in fare is generally welcomed whole-heartedly by travellers but the new hand luggage-only, or ‘zero baggage’, fares have neither airlines nor flyers excited.

At present, only budget carrier SpiceJet is offering zero baggage fares, wherein passengers get a ₹200 discount for not carrying check-in baggage. But does that really flying cheaper? Probably not.

“In the present context the zero baggage charge does not benefit the flyer. There are times when fares on carriers that allow free baggage are much cheaper than airlines that have a zero baggage charge,” said John Nair, Head - Corporate Travel, Cox & Kings. “It would only make a difference if the fares vary by a wide margin. A small drop in charges will not act as an incentive for customers to switch to airlines that have a zero baggage charge.”

At present all domestic airlines except national carrier Air India allow a flyer to carry up to 15 kg of check-in baggage without any cost — Air India allows up to 23 kg. In some cases, Air India still turns out cheaper than the zero baggage fares.

While allowing these fares, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) clarified that it has to be an opt-in facility, which means if a traveller doesn’t want to go for zero baggage, the regular fare, which will be only ₹200 more, will be available for him. Airlines can’t even fix the number of seats for zero-baggage flyers, limiting the impact of the new fares.
25/11/15 Varun Aggarwal/Business Line

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Pink Floyd helped me deal with the worst: Vistara's Sanjiv Kapoor

When Spicejet was in a tough spot last year, the airline's then COO Sanjiv Kapoor often recalled a line from one of John Lennon's tracks, "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans." A Lennon fan, Kapoor and his team steered the airline out of trouble. In the process, Kapoor and his employees developed a bond, which only a crisis can bring about.

After further steadying Spicejet with two good quarters, Kapoor quit his job and joined the Indian airline industry's latest entrant, Vistara. Currently, he is on gardening leave, recharging his batteries before his new assignment. ETPanache caught up with the Delhi-based Kapoor when he was in Mumbai for a day. He flew to the city on Vistara.

"They (cabin and ground staff) treated me like I was family," Kapoor says. "I was pleasantly surprised because I didn't think they would know I was on board. They really made me feel warm and welcome." He was to return to Delhi on Spicejet, where he's still treated as one of their own. "I am grateful to have not just my family at home but two airlines out there who are both my families. I find that very nice. I will enjoy it as much as I can," says Kapoor, who grew up in Kolkata.
26/11/15 Rashmi Menon/Economic Times

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SpiceJet registers highest passenger occupancy in October

Chennai: Low-cost airline SpiceJet achieved the highest passenger load factor (PLF) -- a measure of the total seats filled -- of 92.1% in October, according to data published by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The airline has been achieving over 90% load factor for six consecutive months. It is for the seventh successive months that SpiceJet is registering the highest load factor of all airlines in India.

The flight cancellations for the airline have also declined consistently in the past few months, with the rate of cancellation for October 2015 being just 0.13%, the lowest of all airlines in India, a note from the airline said.
23/11/15 Aparna Desikan/Times of India

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Technical glitch grounds flights

Mysuru: Did the State Government renege on its promise to subsidise Air India with a viability gap funding for flying between Mysuru and Bengaluru? Or is it a technical glitch over the agreement resolving which will pave a way for resumption of air services to Mysuru?

The question assumes significance in light of Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, discontinuing its flight services to Mysuru with effect from Tuesday “until further notice”.

At the time of inauguration of the services in September this year, Minister for Tourism R.V. Deshpande had released an official statement that the State government had committed itself to provide a viability gap funding of Rs. 9.5 lakh per month for one year. This was to help the airline offset its loss due to possible poor patronage in the initial few months.

But a communiqué from Alliance Air to its marketing staff indicates that the tenure was for a shorter duration and not one year.

The letter states that “in view of completion of tenure of financial arrangement with the Karnataka government with regard to operation of flights to Mysuru, 9/513/514Blr/Mys/Blr (ATR42) stands withdrawn with effect from Tuesday, November 17, 2015 till further notice”.

Pratap Simha, Mysuru MP, said the government had failed to keep its commitment and should take steps to resolve the technical glitch, if any, in continuing the viability gap funding.
20/11/15 R. Krishna Kumar/The Hindu

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One-way passenger patronage encouraging

Mysuru: Flight services to Mysuru have been suspended on the grounds that the services are not commercially viable.

Kingfisher was the first to fly to Mysuru after the new airport was inaugurated in 2010, and it suspended operations after one year before going bust. SpiceJet stepped in and offered its services intermittently before suspending operations. Alliance Air was the third service provider operating to Mysuru.

Though the suspension is attributed to lack of patronage, figures available from the Mysuru Airport indicates that passenger patronage was increasing. For November 19, 20 passengers had booked their seats in a airplane carrying 42 passengers, and there could have been more last-minute bookings.
20/11/15 R. Krishna Kumar/The Hindu

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SpiceJet begins to operate daily flights to Belagavi

Mangaluru: SpiceJet has begun to operate daily flights from the international airport here to Belagavi on a daily basis commencing Wednesday November 18.

The flight now introduced will take Mangaluru-Bengaluru-Belagavi-Mangaluru route. The flight SG1027 departs the airport here at 9.20 am and reach Belagavi via Bengaluru. The flight SG1028 will arrive here from Belagavi via Bengaluru at 5.50 pm.

Airport director, J T Radhakrishna, said that this will facilitate passengers wishing to travel between Belagavi and the city.
19/11/15 Daijiworld

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Competition Commission Imposes Rs. 258 Crore Fine on Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet

New Delhi: Clamping down on unfair business practices in the aviation sector, Competition Commission today slapped penalties totalling Rs. 258 crore on Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet for cartelisation in fixing fuel surcharge for transporting cargo.

However, the fair trade regulator did not impose any penalty on national airline Air India and private carrier Go Airlines, which were also named in a complaint filed by Express Industry Council of India.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has penalised three carriers -- Jet Airways, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd and SpiceJet -- for "concerted action in fixing and revising Fuel Surcharge (FSC) for transporting cargo", according to an official release.

While a penalty of Rs. 151.69 crore has been imposed on Jet Airways, the fines slapped on InterGlobe and SpiceJet are Rs. 63.74 crore and Rs. 42.48 crore, respectively.

InterGlobe Aviation operates no-frills carrier IndiGo.

These carriers have also been directed to cease and desist from indulging in anti-competitive practices.

There were no immediate comments from any of the airlines on the CCI order.

The regulator found that the three airlines colluded in fixing FSC rates.

Such conduct was found to have resulted in indirectly determining the rates of air cargo transport and thereby contravening Section 3 of the Competition Act. This section pertains to anti-competitive agreements, the release said.

"No penalty, however, was imposed upon Air India Ltd as its conduct was not found to be parallel with other airlines.

"Similarly, no penalty was imposed upon Go Airlines (India) Ltd as it gave its cargo belly space to third party vendors with no control on any part of commercial/economic aspects of cargo operations done by vendors including imposition of FSC," the release said.
18/11/15 PTI/NDTV

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Jet, IndiGo and SpiceJet to consider legal options against CCI order

New Delhi: The three airlines collectively fined Rs 258 crore by fair trade regulator for acting like a cartel and "overcharging cargo freight in the garb of fuel surcharge" have decided to legally challenge this order.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had on Tuesday asked Jet, IndiGo and SpiceJet to pay Rs 151.7 crore, Rs 63.7 crore and Rs 42.5 crore, respectively, within 60 days.

A Jet Airways spokesman said, "Jet Airways is not in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act and shall pursue all available legal steps to defend its position."

A statement issued by IndiGo said, "The company is studying the CCI Order and will take legal steps to challenge the order in the appropriate forum. The company has been legally advised that it is not in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002."

While SpiceJet did not issue a statement, it is learnt that this airline company too is examining legal options to challenge the CCI verdict.

The CCI order had come on a complaint filed by Express Industry Council of India which also named Air India and GoAir, apart from the three airlines. The fair trade regulator did not find AI and GoAir guilty.
18/11/15 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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SpiceJet, Jet Airways and IndiGo cut losses; CCI fines airlines for cartelisation

New Delhi: Shares of SpiceJet, Jet Airways and Interglobe Aviation recovered from the early lows after slipping up to 4 per cent as Competition Commission on Tuesday imposed penalties totalling Rs 258 crore on airlines accusing them of cartelising in fixing fuel surcharge on air cargo.
Stock of SpiceJet rose 6 per cent to Rs 50.90, after slipping as much as 3.64 per cent in the early trade on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Shares of InterGlobe Aviation fell for the first time since its listing, but quickly recovered to hit its intraday high of Rs 1059.20, up 2.32 per cent.
Jet Airways, however, continued to trade in red and slipped as much as 4.29 per cent to Rs 410.25.
While a penalty of Rs 151.69 crore has been imposed on Jet Airways, the fines slapped on InterGlobe and SpiceJet are Rs 63.74 crore and Rs 42.48 crore, respectively.
InterGlobe Aviation operates no-frills carrier IndiGo.
"Jet Airways is not in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act and it shall pursue all available legal steps to defend its position," a Jet Airways spokesperson said about the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order.
SpiceJet's Corporate Affairs General Manager Ajay Jasra said, "We are examining the order. We are likely to challenge this verdict".
18/11/15 Business Today

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Aided by a turnaround in fortunes, SpiceJet in talks to buy 150 planes

New Delhi: Emboldened by a quick turnaround in fortunes under its new promoters, budget airline SpiceJetBSE 9.48 % has initiated talks with aircraft manufacturers to place orders for at least 150 planes, said Ajay Singh, chairman of India's fourth largest carrier.

"It will be a significant sized order. And it will be placed soon," Singh told ETin an interview recently.

SpiceJet is in talks to buy 100 narrow-bodied aircraft (Boeing 737 MAX or Airbus 320 Neo) and 50 turboprop aircraft. "We have two businesses here. Large aircraft for metros and larger towns and small aircraft for smaller regional towns. We see a potential in the regional aircraft business," Singh said.
He is hopeful of placing the order by the end of this financial year. "The order size for bigger aircraft would be in excess of 100 and smaller ones again would be a large-sized order and could be in the range of 50 aircraft," he said. Currently, SpiceJet operates a fleet of 25 Boeing, two Airbus (on wet lease) and 14 Bombardier aircraft.
18/11/15 Mihir Mishra & Satish John/Economic Times

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Nose wheel comes off aircraft in Madurai

Madurai: One of the two nose wheels of the Colombo-Madurai Spicejet flight came off the aircraft with 70 passengers while taxiing at Madurai Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

However, the pilot managed to bring the aircraft to the apron with the single nose wheel, airport sources said.

All the 70 passengers and five crew members were safe, sources said.
18/11/15 The Hindu

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Dubai airport welcomes new SpiceJet flights

SpiceJet’s inaugural flights from the Indian cities of Amritsar in Punjab and Kozhikode (Calicut) in Kerala were welcomed at the Dubai International Airport yesterday (November 15).

India’s leading low-cost carrier now has daily flights on the Kozhikode-Dubai route, while flights on the Amritsar-Dubai route will operate on all days except Saturdays.
16/11/15 Trade Arabia

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Oman Air to raise service frequency to Indian cities

Muscat: The Sultanate’s national carrier, Oman Air, will increase the frequency of its flights to some Indian destinations following enhanced bilateral seat entitlements, a senior official of the airlines said on Sunday.

According to the revised agreement between India and Oman, carriers from both countries can fly 5,131 additional seats per week between the two countries, taking the total capacity entitlement to 21,149 seats per week.

The move will enable Oman Air to launch additional flights to India. On the other hand, Indian carriers such as Air India, Air India Express, Jet Airways, Indigo and Spice Jet can also utilise these rights from different Indian airports to the Muscat International Airport, Salalah Airport and Sohar Airport.

Speaking to the Times of Oman, the official of Oman Air also, however, said additional seats does not mean additional destinations.

“Obtaining rights for additional new destinations in India is a completely different set of processes, involving negotiations between the two governments (and their civil aviation authorities),” he said.
15/11/15 Times Of Oman'

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