| Addressing the media on Monday, Ajay Singh, director of SpiceJet, said, "We have already made the pre-delivery payment for the aircraft. We had earlier raised funds through preferential equity of $12.5 million. Further funds will be raised from multilateral institutions like Exim Bank and through a bond issue of $80 million." |
| The five aircraft that SpiceJet uses at present are leased. The airline will add eight new aircraft in 2006 followed by another eight in 2007. |
| SpiceJet has started its operations from Hyderabad, connecting the city to Chennai and Kolkata through daily flights. The Hyderabad-Chennai flight was inaugurated by Telugu actor Chiranjeevi on Monday. |
| The airline has now expanded operations to 11 Indian cities with the number of daily flights being 35. Seating capacity too has been expanded to 7,000 per day. "We plan to connect more cities by the end of this month," Singh said. |
| The seating capacity of each aircraft that SpiceJet uses is 189 out of which 40 come under the promotional fare. While the promotional fare for the Hyderabad-Chennai flight is Rs 1,299, the starting fare is Rs 1,399. For the Hyderabad-Kolkata flight, the promotional fare is Rs 1,599 and the starting fare is Rs 1,999. |
| According to Singh, SpiceJet has the highest load factor among all domestic carriers in the country at 90 per cent. It expects the largest addition of customers from people who switch from trains to planes. "Currently, only around six million people travel by planes every year in India," he added. |
| With regard to the ticket prices, Singh said if the price of aviation turbine fuel goes down to Rs 31,000 per kilolitre from the current Rs 35,000 per kilolitre, the airline may even consider removing the fuel surcharge. |
| At present, a surcharge of Rs 200 is being applied for short haul flights (less than 1,000 km) while the surcharge is Rs 400 for long haul flights. |
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