Spice May issue ipad LR

SPECIAL REPORT
12TH ANNIVERSARY
THE MAKING OF AN
AVIATION GIANT
SPICEJET’S RISE TO THE NATION’S MOST PREFERRED AIRLINE STATUS HAS BEEN
ACHIEVED THROUGH HARD WORK AND SMART BUSINESS DECISIONS
Top: SpiceJet is known for its joie de vivre.
Bottom: Holi sticker for a
little passenger
As it celebrates its 12th
anniversary this year,
SpiceJet finds itself in an
enviable position vis-a-vis
other Indian aviation firms. The
anniversary celebrations coincide
with it doing exceptionally well across
many parameters. According to recent
data released by the DGCA
(Directorate General of Civil Aviation),
the regulatory body for civil aviation
under the Ministry of Civil Aviation,
SpiceJet’s performance compares very
favourably with that of its peers.
In March 2017, at 91.4 per cent,
SpiceJet let the field in Aircraft
Occupancy, a smart 6.6 per cent ahead
of its nearest rival. March-end turned
out to be good for SpiceJet in many
ways. It reported profit for eight
consecutive quarters as well as a 90
per cent plus load factor for 24
consecutive months. The same month,
at 85.7 per cent, its OTP (On Time
Performance) was the second best.
Also in March 2017, it surged ahead to
become the third largest airline in
market share.
For SpiceJet, it has been a
remarkable recovery from a near
comatose situation it found itself in
three years ago. In fact, the airline had
even ceased operations for one day, on
December 16, 2014. Lessors wanted
their planes back and creditors, their
money. But a hands-on entrepreneur,
Ajay Singh, one of the original
founders of SpiceJet, led a determined
new management team from the front,
and the airline staged the most
remarkable turnaround in the history
of aviation industry, all within a year.
Thanking the company’s
employees in a letter dated December
16, 2015, Ajay Singh, Chairman &
Managing Director, SpiceJet, had said,
“Today, December 16, is an important
day for all of us. It was on this day last
year that our airline cancelled all its
flights and prepared (itself) to shut
down. Customers harangued us,
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MAY 2017