SpiceJet to fly overseas in Oct

Kalanidhi Maran-promoted low-cost carrier SpiceJet will add 13 aircraft to its fleet by 2013 besides targeting to ferry 85 lakh passengers by the end of the current financial year. The no-frills airline would be kick starting its overseas operations in October, said Kishor Gupta, director, SpiceJet. “Our Delhi-Kathmandu service will start on October 7 and Chennai-Colombo service will be unveiled on October 9,” he said adding, “We are starting with Saarc nations and Male and Dhaka are on our radar where we plan to start operations soon.” Speaking to newsmen after the Chennai-Madurai inaugural flight, he said the airline would start getting the 30 aircraft it had booked recently with Boeing by January 2014. The company had placed fresh order with Boeing for 30 more aircraft amounting to close to $2.4 billion.” “We will be having 45-46 aircraft by the time Boeing starts its delivery of aircraft from the 30-plane booking lot. We will be leasing out the six to seven aircraft by this December and another seven will be added in 14 months’ time. We will be, in a sense, doubling our fleet of aircraft from the current 22.” Gupta said the airline is not looking for any capex raising in the near future as the 13 aircraft would be on lease. “We won’t be facing any major fund outgo, but when Boeing starts the delivery by 2014, we would take a call on whether to raise funds.” He said the airline is looking to expand its existing domestic network as well as adding some more destinations. Destinations such as Thiruvanthapuram, Lucknow, and Indore may get included in the airline’s network. “We are targeting a 22% growth in our top line,” he said, adding “Spicejet’s on-time performance has been among the best in the industry.” Gupta said that he do

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).