SpiceJet's owner to exit from indebted airline

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Airline SpiceJet Ltd said on Thursday that its billionaire owner has proposed to transfer majority ownership in the ailing carrier to co-founder Ajay Singh.

Financial detail of the deal was not disclosed.

SpiceJet, India's second largest budget airline, was forced to ground its fleet briefly last month after it ran out of cash to pay creditors and its majority owner, Kalanithi Maran's Sun Group, said it would not put up any more money.

Loss-making SpiceJet, which began life in 2005, employs around 5,000 people and operates 230 flights a day in a market where demand for air travel is rising rapidly but making a profit has proven difficult for most major airlines.

 

(Reporting by Aman Shah in Mumbai; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee)