SpiceJet in talks with Boeing, Airbus for $11bn mega deal
REUTERS
Budget airline SpiceJet Ltd is in talks with Boeing Co and Airbus Group to acquire about 100 new narrow-body jets, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday , in a deal that would be worth about $11 billion at list prices.
SpiceJet wants to buy more Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 Max aircraft, Kiran Koteshwar said, as it looks to rebuild its business after almost collapsing last year.
Koteshwar said the company plans to place an order, its biggest ever, by the end of this fiscal and would look to raise fresh equity or debt to pay for the planes once it had decided how many to buy .
“We have to place an order so we have a long-term business plan in place. The focus is now on sizeable growth,“ he said. There is no guarantee the talks will lead to a firm order.
SpiceJet's expansion plans come after India's sec ond-largest low-cost carrier almost collapsed, before be ing bailed out by new chair man Ajay Singh in January .
SpiceJet has less than 20 Boeing narrow-body jets, while its market share has shrunk to 12% inJune from around 20% a year ago after it cut capacity to stay in business. India's airlines are expanding their fleets as they compete to win a bigger slice of what is one of world's fasting growing markets for air travel but one where most players are plagued by losses as the fight for passengers pushes ticket prices below costs.
Rival IndiGo, the largest Indian airline by market share, has kept costs low in part by placing large orders for a single type of plane through the sale and leaseback model.
“SpiceJet has always been constrained by the lack of long-term orders. This will give us economies of scale and for our vendors and suppliers to see that we are growing,“ he said.
Its shares were up 3.2 % at 1250 IST on Wednesday , outpacing a 0.3 % rise in the wider market.
