With reference to the column "Turnaround time" (July 30), the author is not willing to give Ajay Singh credit for bringing SpiceJet back from the brink. Her observations that the airline's accumulated losses remain high, its liabilities exceed assets and payments to vendors are still due are correct, but these cannot disappear overnight. Her arguments that SpiceJet's income is down 50 per cent and its capacity on offer has slumped 48 per cent do not hold good because these are part of Singh's turnaround strategy that has converted a loss-making entity to earn profit in the latest quarter.
Indeed low oil prices are helping SpiceJet, but these are helping other airlines too, and yet some are making losses. Lower ticket prices are attracting more travellers. But SpiceJet still has the highest load factor. Bhargava is critical of discounted fares on offer and the bidding of seats. But SpiceJet is at least trying to experiment and survive, and is beginning to succeed too, considering the airline's overall numbers.
When Kalanithi Maran was running SpiceJet, it was running on losses, flights were getting cancelled and operations had even stopped for a day. The likes of Sahara and Kingfisher could not recover from their problems. Singh, on the hand, returns to SpiceJet at a hopeless time and displays remarkable confidence and astute planning sense. He has restored faith in the airline while scripting probably the fastest turnaround story in India in recent times.
Shiva Kumar Mumbai
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