SpiceJet to buy 100 planes; in talks with Boeing, Airbus

NEW DELHI: Budget carrier SpiceJet today said it plans to buy around 100 new planes as part of a long-term business plan and is in talks with global aircraft makers including Boeing and Airbus in this regard.

"We need to have some long-term aircraft order so that we can put a business plan around it. The next logical step, after the revival is that we need to have a long-term vision and for that we need aircraft order," SpiceJet Chief Financial Officer Kiran Koteshwar told PTI today.

The Gurgaon-based airline, which was on the verge of closure late last year, had yesterday reported its second straight quarterly profit at Rs 71.8 crore in the three months ended June as against a net loss of Rs 124 crore in Q1FY15.

The order should be around 100 planes, he said adding "It could vary depending on the economic obligation and what we need to pay."

In March last year, the airline had placed order for 42 Boeing 737 MAX jets worth Rs 26,000 crore with the Boeing Company.

Koteshwar said "the legacy issues we had are being sorted out but operationally we are fine and can pay our bills with the operational cash."

Currently, SpiceJet has 34 aircraft in the fleet, comprising 18 Boeing 737s, two Airbus A319 (on wet-lease) and 14 Bombardier Q400.

"We are talking to all the manufacturers... Airbus, Boeing and others also on smaller aircraft such as Bombardier, ATR and Embarer. We have just started work on it and formally it takes 3-6 months (for placing order)," SpiceJet official said.

SpiceJet is confident of placing the orders by end of this fiscal, Koteshwar said, adding the 42 Boeing Max jets order still stays and their delivery would start from 2018.

On the fund infusion in the carrier, the SpiceJet official said, "It would depend on order plan. The investment we are looking is for expansion and we will not take operational cash for expansion... either equity or debt... capital structure depends on returns."