Spicejet intends to buy 50 Q400 planes from Bombardier

No-frills carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday announced its intention of buying 50 Q400 planes from Bombardier valued at a list price of USD 1.7 billion, a day after signing up 40 737 MAX airplanes from Boeing.
 
The announcement of the signing of Letter of Intent (LOI) was made at International Paris Air Show in France's Le Bourget.
 
Based on the Q400 turboprop list price, an order could be valued at up to USD 1.7 billion. This would be the single biggest order for the Q400, a statement by the airline said.
 
This would "increase the fleet of Q series turboprops to support regional expansion strategy. SpiceJet will become the newest customer of extra-capacity, 86-seat Q400 aircraft", it said.
 
"This order will help us further increase connectivity to smaller towns and cities and help realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ensuring that every Indian can fly," SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said.
 
This latest aircraft order by SpiceJet, which has been an enthusiastic supporter and participant of India's regional connectivity scheme, will help further take forward the government’s vision to provide air connectivity to the common man, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey was quoted as saying in the statement.
 
"It is also a testament to the huge demand for air travel in the smaller towns and cities of India," he added.
 
Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Fred Cromer said this is a "compelling evidence that the demand for turboprop aircraft is healthy in short-to-medium-haul markets that can’t economically support jets that are more expensive to operate."
 
SpiceJet currently operates 20 Q400 aircraft in a 78-seat configuration to domestic and international destinations. When concluded, this fleet expansion will provide SpiceJet with the ability to grow profitably and leverage the robust demand forecast in the world’s fastest growing regional aviation market, the statement said.

On Monday, SpiceJet had announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with aircraft maker Boeing for 40 737 MAX airplanes that are valued at USD 4.74 billion at current list prices.
 
On January 13 this year, SpiceJet had Friday announced one of the biggest aircraft order in the country buying 205 aircraft from Boeing for around USD 22 billion or around Rs 1.5 lakh crore.