SpiceJet flies into turbulence

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SpiceJet seems to have flown itself into turbulence. Sources say daily flight cancellations at the airline have risen to as high as 70 a day from the 40-odd in mid-November.  According to sources, SpiceJet is now left with a fleet of only 20 Boeing aircraft and of these only 18 are operational. That's almost half of its fleet strength of 39 aircraft in August this year.

At its peak, the airline was operating 345 daily flights this summer but now that number is down to 275.

Sources say as the number of planes it operates reduces, SpiceJet will most likely shut down operations to Indore, Varanasi, Aurangabad, Surat, Mysore, Trivandrum, Sharjah, Kathmandu and Kabul.

Meanwhile, Network 18 also learns that employees earning below Rs 50,000 a month, that is, largely front line staff, have been paid salary this evening but no time line has been given for salary payment to the rest of the staff. The airline delayed payment of salaries for the first time this weekend with COO Sanjiv Kapoor promising employees that they would be paid soon.

An airline spokesperson did not respond to queries on salary delays or whether operations to any destinations would be suspended.