SpiceJet on Tuesday said shareholders have approved the transfer of its cargo and logistics services business to a subsidiary, on a slump sale basis, through an all-share deal worth over Rs 2,555 crore, a move that will help the airline to significantly reduce its negative networth. Besides, the shareholders have cleared the proposal to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore through the Qualified institutional placement (QIP) route. These developments also come at a time when the airline industry is slowly recovering after being battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Jet Airways has complained to India's aviation regulator about the use of its livery on SpiceJet aircraft, saying the practice could "mislead the public" and is a safety hazard. Jet collapsed in 2019 and lessors repossessed its Boeing 737s. Some of these aircraft were leased to SpiceJet, which operates them without changing the livery. Jet, which is now being revived by the Kalrock Jalan consortium and aims to restart operations in September, has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to ask SpiceJet to stop using its livery.
More than 80 domestic and international flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats on Thursday, according to sources.
Out of the 14 flights, 13 were diverted to Jaipur and 1 to Dehradun, the official said and added that the diversions happened between 8.30 am and 3 pm.
The sources in the know said around 7 flights each of IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet got the threats while 6 flights of Air India received the threats.
Passengers are not allowed to walk on the Delhi airport's tarmac area as it is a security risk. There is a demarcated path on the tarmac for vehicles only.
The threats via microblogging platform X came a day after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats, causing trouble to hundreds of passengers and airline crew.
The trails of mega-mergers, tailwinds of expanding fleets, flights and airports will dot the fast-growing Indian aviation firmament in 2025, though the dark clouds of supply chain woes will persist longer. Also, new airline takeoffs, the future trajectory of revised norms to tackle pilot fatigue and efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be on the radar.
More than five years ago on an April evening, cash-starved Jet Airways announced temporary grounding of operations after flying as a full service airline for 25 years. Since then, more than 20,000 jobs and money worth thousands of crores owed to lenders, vendors and passengers evaporated while awaiting an insolvency resolution. And today, the Supreme Court ordered the airline's liquidation, marking the formal completion of a turbulent journey into the sunset and shattering lean revival hopes.
On May 1, SpiceJet's Mumbai-Durgapur flight encountered severe turbulence during its descent phase, injuring 14 passengers and three cabin crew members.
On a full year basis, the airline made a loss of Rs 934.8 crore. The company has incurred a net loss during the current and previous year and, the its current liabilities exceeded its current assets
The episode has been classified as an 'accident' as it has left serious injuries on passengers and crew members, the sources mentioned.
The pattern of domestic airlines receiving bomb threats to their flights continued for the fourth day as two international flights, one each of Vistara and IndiGo, were targeted in the similar manner on Thursday.
The country's largest airline IndiGo and Air India have asked passengers to reach Delhi airport at least 3.5 hours prior to domestic departures.
More than 30 flights of various Indian airlines, including Vistara, Air India and IndiGo, received bomb threats on Saturday, according to sources.
A threat about the presence of bombs on an Akasa Air flight at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar was received on social media, but it later turned out to be a hoax, an official of the airport said on Thursday.
SpiceJet said its flight heading to Jabalpur returned to Delhi on Saturday after the crew members observed smoke in the cabin at around 5,000-feet altitude.
Indian carriers transported 12.8 million domestic passengers in March 2023, a year-on-year growth of 21.41 per cent. India's largest carrier IndiGo shored up its domestic market share from 53.8 per cent in Q4 of FY22 to 55.7 per cent in Q4 of FY23, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data released on Monday.
SpiceJet had bet its fortunes heavily on the new version of the 737 of which it has 13 planes in its fleet and another 193 aircraft on order
The sources said that during the boarding, the male passenger behaved in an unruly manner and touched the female cabin crew member inappropriately.
The Spicejet aircraft took off at around 12.10 pm, and according to residents of localities adjacent to the airport, who claimed to have witnessed the spectacle, it caught fire immediately.
With airlines reporting multiple technical malfunction incidents, aviation regulator DGCA on Monday said it conducted spot checks and found that there is an insufficient number of engineering personnel certifying planes of various carriers before their departure. Before each departure, an aircraft is checked and certified by an aircraft maintenance engineer (AME). The DGCA has now issued guidelines for airlines on the deployment of AME personnel and directed them to comply by July 28.
Kalanithi Maran claims deal with Ajay Singh is dead; SpiceJet spokesperson says Maran's claims are baseless and false
The bone of contention between the two sides relates to changes in the purchase terms.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Harish Salve that SpiceJet would try to resolve the issue with the Swiss firm. "Senior counsel Harish Salve sought three weeks' time for trying to resolve the matter and Mr K V Vishwanathan (appearing for the Swiss firm) also agreed to the adjournment. "Meanwhile, the high court order is stayed for three weeks," the bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, ordered.
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra has once again found himself at the center of a controversy, this time for his comments about Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Kamra has been a controversial figure for years, with his comedy often targeting politicians and other public figures. This latest incident has led to a backlash from Shinde's supporters, who have vandalized the venue of Kamra's show. Kamra has a history of making controversial remarks, including heckling a TV anchor on a flight and making comments about the judiciary.
Loans for Indian airlines have dried up as banks have become cautious to lend to the sector.
Analysts remain sceptical on the profitability from freighter business, saying that once normal air transport resumes and there's abundant belly capacity, the traditional economics of air cargo may not be that lucrative.
The number of domestic air travelers in India grew 2.42 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in April, reaching 13.2 million, according to data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.
SpiceJet is the first Indian low fare airline to establish such an arrangement with a foreign airline.
It takes only two hours - roughly the time it takes for a plane to fly from Delhi to Mumbai - for a pair of pilots to complete their training on the 737 MAX simulator at Boeing's centre in Noida, the only one of its kind in India. Going by this estimate, all the 90 Spicejet pilots who the civil aviation regulator barred from flying the 737 MAX can be retrained in 90 hours.
Many argue that the airline could achieve its full potential if Nusli Wadia were to run it the way he does Britannia.
These slots, under the air bubble pact, will later be extended to operate regular flight services once international flight services resumes.
Despite the gains from Jet's closure, in 2018 and 2019, the airline continued to make losses in many quarters for a variety of reasons, including some mistakes like taking on Jet's aircraft, which were not in great shape and had business class configuration, a gamble that did not work for SpiceJet.
Amid a massive global outage that hit operations of airlines, banks and businesses across the globe, Microsoft on Friday said that it is aware of the issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform.
'The girls will do well, I hope we get one or two medals. It could be a silver or may be even a gold.'
Capa lauded govt's efforts in rescuing SpiceJet.
Concerned about the deteriorating financial and operational performance of the Kalanithi Maran-promoted airline, the DGCA had on Friday withdrawn 186 flight slots of SpiceJet and directed it not to take bookings for flights beyond a month.
Indigo has zero competition on 61.2 per cent of its 838 domestic routes.
For any airline to be eligible for restructuring, the current ratio has to be equal to or higher than 0.4, while 'debt to Ebitda' has to be equal to or less than 5.5.
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