SpiceJet plans to revive 25 grounded aircraft, borrow Rs 400 crore

Ajay Singh, Chairman of Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has announced a revival-plan for its 25 grounded aircraft amid the Go First bankruptcy case.

SpiceJet said in a press release that Rs 400 crore for the revival of its aircraft will be drawn from the government’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) and better cash accruals.

Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, “We are meticulously working towards return to service of our grounded fleet back in the air soon. Majority of the ECLGS funding received by the airline would be utilized for the same, which will help us capitalise and make the most of the upcoming peak travel season.”

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This comes after Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July 2022 restricted SpiceJet's flights to 50 percent of departures approved under the summer schedule.

DGCA had said at the time that SpiceJet, on a number of occasions, either turned back to its originating station or continued landing to the destination with degraded safety margins.

The regulator also noted that there had been poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions that had resulted in the degradation of the safety margins.

Also Read: Spicejet Q3 profit jumps 160% to Rs 110 crore; stock soars 10%

From January 2022 to February 2023, SpiceJet had wrongly denied boarding to 3,377 passengers, the highest among all airlines in India. The airline has paid Rs 64.66 lakh rupees as compensation to affected passengers in the same period.

Experts had said that the large number of denied booking was on account of overbooking by the airline.