Article in Times of India regarding Spicejet
SpiceJet plans to freeze fleet size
6 Aug 2008, 0001 hrs IST, Saurabh Sinha,TNN
No more addition
NEW DELHI: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which recently got an $80-million bailout from a US distress fund, has now decided to virtually freeze its fleet size for some time.
At present, the airline has 15 aircraft in operation and just one plane will be added next February. The fleet size of 16 is likely to be retained next year, said sources. Had the aviation success story not slipped on oil prices, the airline’s fleet size next year was supposed to be 23.
With the addition of only one aircraft next year, the airline is even looking for takers for some of its existing ones. It has leased out a plane to a European carrier. It is also providing consultancy to a startup airline in Nepal, Air Nepal, to help set up its shop. The LCC is in talks to lease out two planes to Nepal Air on which the startup would begin operations.
With the fleet size frozen for over a year unless some dramatic development revives the great aviation growth story, SpiceJet is likely to get rid of as many as 20 “expensive” expat pilots.
Given a requirement of six pilots and a fleet of 15 planes, the airline needs a maximum of over 100 pilots as the entire staff is not available at any given time.
The airline has 130 pilots. An Indian pilot gets about Rs 4.5 lakh per month and an expat costs about 40% more. SpiceJet is planning to send back over 20 expats.
Kingfisher is also trying to find takers for its fleet. The company is going to take deliveries of A-340s that were to be used for non-stop India-US flights. But given the high cost of fuel that make a non-stop flight by uplifting tonnes of expensive jet fuel from India, the airline is now looking for someone interested in this long haul planes.