Spicy results from SpiceJet

Chennai: In its first year of operations, SpiceJet Limited declared an operating profit of Rs71.52 crore. Revenues for the year stood at Rs453.15 crore, higher than expectations. The airline carried over 1.60 million passengers during the year with an average load factor of 86 per cent. The airlines claims a market share of 7.8 per cent with six aircraft fleet.

Announcing the results for the year 2005-06 ending 31st May, SpiceJet's chairman Siddhanta Sharma said, "SpiceJet's average load factor, highest in the industry, coupled with better yield management and strict cost controlling have resulted in better than the industry financial performance."

At a time when other leading budget airlines schedules are unreliable, SpiceJet has achieved 99.5 per cent flight dispatch reliability and maintained over 90 per cent on time performance and registered lowest flight cancellations.

Meanwhile the airlines is expanding its fleet by adding five more Boeing crafts by next January. In October this year, two new Boeing 737-800 will be inducted enabling launch of five new sectors (Delhi-Varanasi-Delhi, Ahmedabad-Goa-Ahmedabad via Mumbai, Ahmedabad-Chennai-Ahmedabad and Kolkata-Guwahati-Kolkata, Hyderabad-Bangalore-Hyderabad) and additional flights on its existing routes of Delhi - Goa - Delhi, Delhi - Guwahati - Delhi, Mumbai - Goa - Mumbai, Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Ahmedabad routes.

In a significant development Spicejet, Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management (BBAM) along with its long-term strategic partner Nomura Babcock & Brown Co Ltd (NBB) have announced the signing of a sale and lease back agreement covering sixteen brand-new Boeing 737-800/-900ER aircraft valued at over $1.1 billion based on the manufacturer's list prices.

The aircraft will be delivered over approximately 22 months beginning in January 2007. Earlier in the year, Spicejet had completed a similar financing with BBAM for its first four B737-800 aircraft deliveries. Together with the today's announcement, Spicejet has now completed the financing of its first twenty aircraft orders for Boeing 737-800/-900ER aircraft.

Sharma termed the deal as 'landmark in the history of company's evolution' and said "BBAM and Nomura are one of the world's top aircraft financiers and their faith in Spicejet makes us proud. The newly acquired capacity will go a long way to augment our network in the country and would greatly assist us in fulfilling our vision of being India's most preferred Low Cost Carrier."

By end 2008, the airlines expects to add 23 new aircraft to its fleet, which will operate more than 250 flights on around 24 destinations, offering more than 35,000 seats per day.