SpiceJet cuts airfares by 50% for all bookings till 23 Jan

The country’s second largest low-fare airline SpiceJet cut airfares on Tuesday by 50 percent for booking for three days on or before 23 January in a move to improve load factor during the off-season. A minimum of 30 days advance purchase has been kept as a must for customers to avail the discount.Speaking to CNBC-TV18, SL Narayanan, Group CFO, Sun Group said he expects no impact on margins as a result of the discounts. He also clarified that the offer is valid only for domestic flights. Losses at SpiceJet have been mounting, as the company grapples with high fuel price and fierce competition. The company has reported a net loss of Rs 508 crore for the first half of this financial year, on the back of a Rs 191-crore loss for 2012-13. The airline recently issued warrants to the promoters aimed at arresting the erosion in the company’s networth. Last year too, the company’s promoters had infused funds through warrants, and in December 2013, raised their stake by 2.8 percentage points to over 53 percent by converting Rs 54 crore worth of warrants into shares. Competition in Indian skies is expected to intensify as Air Asia and Tata SIA commence operations in the coming months. There are media reports that SpiceJet is in talks with strategic investors to sell a minority stake and raise equity capital.The budget carrier earlier in the month said it will discontinue flights on three domestic and a couple of international destinations from the upcoming summer schedule as part of its network rejig exercise. The Delhi-based private airline's summer schedule in India begins from March 29 and lasts up to October 28. SpiceJet said it will be discontinuing its Pune-Bangkok, Varanasi-Sharjah and Delhi-Guangzhou flights.