
“We plan to start flights to South Asian and West Asian countries by August or September, as some of our Boeing aircraft will be delivered during that period. We have applied for permission from the civil aviation ministry for a lot of destinations in these two regions and are awaiting permissions,” said Chief Executive Officer Neil Mills.
The Gurgaon-based carrier had launched its first international flight in October last year, to Kathmandu. It had received permission to operate flights to Kathmandu, Colombo, Dhaka and Maldives.
It currently operates to Kathmandu and Colombo. “As of now, we have not firmed up any plan for expanding to Dhaka and Maldives but will start operation to these destinations whenever it makes sense,” Mills said.
He said their fleet utilisation would increase with international expansion. “Our current aircraft utilisation is under 12 hours, which will increase to over 13 hours by the new set of expansion,” he added.
The fleet size is to rise from 29 to 43 by the end of this financial year. The Boeing aircraft will increase from 29 to 32 and the rest will be 78-seater Bombardier Q400s. The airline aims to have a fleet of 70 aircraft, a mix of 45 Boeing and 25 Q400 planes, by 2013-end.
The airline will need $200-250 million to fund its purchase of aircraft in 2011-12 and has not yet decided on how.
SpiceJet is also looking at smaller cities for its second phase of expansion in the domestic sector and for two more bases, apart from the one in South India. The airline has already said it would start its regional service with a base in Hyderabad and operate flights in the range of one to two hours from the base city.
“We plan to have two more bases to start operations from Bombardier Q400s. We are talking to various states,” Mills said.
The airline plans to recruit around 75 people, the majority being pilots and cabin crew, for the expansion.
SpiceJet shares today marginally fell to close at Rs 39.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on a day when the Sensex grew 221 points to close at 18,266.
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