JOIN USRestructuring of its fleet has prompted low-cost airline SpiceJet to curtail around 40 services a day after taking seven flights off the skies.
The airline had 35 Boeings in operation in July this year but following the restructuring action, seven were taken off the skies while two others were not in operation for other reasons.
SpiceJet used to operate 342 flights a day but it has come down to around 300 per day, airline officials said.
At present, SpiceJet is operating only 26 flights but it hopes to increase the number to the original 35 by December. By the second half of next year, the airline aims to have 45-50 planes in its fleet.
“We are going through a fleet restructuring. We have changed our schedule. I do not know the exact number of cancellations. We returning some old planes, due to which the schedule has been changed. This is all short term restructuring,” Sanjiv Kapoor, SpiceJet Chief Operating Officer (COO), has said.
By November, he said, they plan to have 30 flights in operation and by December, it will touch 35.
Passengers are being accommodated on other flights or were being refunded fares immediately, the airline said.
The DGCA is learnt to be ascertaining about flight cancellations along with details of the financial liabilities of the airline. Asked whether financially strained SpiceJet will go the Kingfisher Airlines way, Kapoor said it was not correct to compare them with the now-defunct airline.
“We are paying salaries on time. All our tax issues have been cleared and we have among the highest load factors and enjoy a very good market share. Our revenue is $1 billion and market capitalisation is $ 140 million,” he said.