SpiceJet announces order for 30 Boeing 737-800 aircraft

The Board of Directors of low-cost carrier SpiceJet has approved an order for 30 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with deliveries commencing from 2014.

The airline has a current fleet size of 21 Boeing 737-800 and 737-900 with seven more deliveries scheduled till 2012.

"We are currently seeing a strong resurgence in domestic air traffic on the back of a robust macro-economic growth," Mr. Kishore Gupta, Director, said.

"We expect domestic demand to grow at 16% during the current year and to sustain a 12-14% annual growth going forward in the medium-term. This growth will necessitate significant capacity induction and the fresh order announced by us today will ensure that SpiceJet will remain at the forefront of the growth story in the Indian skies," he said.

Earlier today, SpiceJet had announced that it was in the process of evaluating a far more aggressive fleet expansion over the next 18-24 months than originally planned.

The current pending orders with Boeing, the more aggressive short-to-medium term fleet expansion and this fresh order for 30 aircraft will ensure that SpiceJet not only continues to be ahead of the industry growth, but also consistently offers value-for-money fares to its customers, a press release from the company said.

"The Boeing Next-Generation 737 is the most technologically advanced single-aisle airplane, which offers the best technical reliability and lowest operating unit cost, is vital to our low-cost structure. We are extremely proud of our relationship with Boeing and are happy to announce this significant order of 30 aircraft to take this partnership to a higher level," Mr. Bhulo Kansagra, Director, added.

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