SpiceJet gets breather; can offer tickets till March 31

In yet another relief to the struggling SpiceJet, aviation regulator DGCA, on Tuesday, temporarily removed the 30-day booking restriction on the airline even as the centre once again ruled out any succour to the carrier.

“The one-month booking ceiling imposed on SpiceJet has been taken off and the airline allowed to book tickets beyond 30 days till March next year,” government sources said.

The DGCA breather to the airline comes a day after SpiceJet Chief Operating Officer Sanjiv Kapoor, along with Sun Group CFO S L Narayanan, met Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathy Raju and DGCA Prabhat Kumar and sought the government’s help to overcome the crisis.

“No financial plan submitted to DGCA on Tuesday. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the financial impact of the 30-day booking limit on the airline,” Kapoor had tweeted on Monday after the meeting.

SpiceJet was given a breather on Monday after the state-run Airports Authority of India allowed it some time to clear Rs 200 crore dues following the airline’s promoter Kalanithi Maran giving a personal guarantee to infuse more funds.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said that there was no question of any bailout to the beleaguered carrier.