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| Founded | 2004 | |||
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| Commenced operations | 24 May 2005 | |||
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| Fleet size | 39 (+30 orders) | |||
| Destinations | 33 | |||
| Company slogan | Flying for everyone | |||
| Parent company | Sun Group | |||
| Headquarters | Gurgaon[2] | |||
| Key people | Kalanithi Maran, Chairman Neil Mills, CEO |
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| Revenue | US$562.51 million (see below) |
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| Website | SpiceJet.com | |||
SpiceJet is a low-cost airline headquartered in Gurgaon, India.[2] It began service in May 2005 and by 2008, it was India's second-largest low-cost airline in terms of market share.[3] SpiceJet operates over 243 flights daily to 31 Indian cities. Spicejet's fleet consists of 26 Boeing 737-800, 6 Boeing 737-900ER and 7 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft. SpiceJet provides a wide range of customer services on board such as catering. A maximum of 20 kg of baggage is allowed per paying passenger. SpiceJet allows customers to earn reward points and cash back offers as they book using their SpiceJet State Bank of India Master Card. Each of SpiceJet's employee is trained to behave in a smart, friendly and efficient manner so that they ensure every passenger feels welcome and looked after. However, services has been riddled by delays. Some passengers have been left stranded after repeated delay announcements followed by abrupt cancellations. According to reports, more than 17,480 passengers of Spicejet have been affected by delays of more than two hours in January 2011 alone. In December 2011, a major runway collision at Chennai Airport was averted as a Kingfisher Airlines' ATR 72 aircraft was stopped from taking off. SpiceJet was voted as the best low-cost airline in South Asia and Central Asia region by Skytrax in 2007.[4] SpiceJet was also voted the best low-fare airline in India by Hindustan Times' Monitoring and Research Systems (MaRS) in 2009 for its focused commitment to passenger comfort and satisfaction. SpiceJet was reported to be far ahead of other low-cost carriers in India like IndiGo, JetLite, Kingfisher Red and GoAir and also full service carriers like Jet Airways and Kingfisher.[5]
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The origins of SpiceJet track back to February 1993 when ModiLuft, one of India's first post-deregulation airlines that was launched by the Indian industrialist S K Modi, in technical partnership with the German flag carrier Lufthansa. The airline project was started in February, 1993 by S K Modi, Ashutosh Dayal Sharma and Kanwar K S Jamwal and on 5 May 1993 took the first flight from New Delhi to Mumbai. The airline actually started operations within three months of its conception - a record of kinds in itself. It maintained very high standards in flight safety, ground maintenance and on-time performance, owing to a strong support from Lufthansa AG. The team consisting of Indian and German technical staff and pilots was built by Kanwar K S Jamwal, General Manager Projects, a thorough professional himself, was responsible for setting up the Airline and it's operations. Captain R L. Kapur and Retired First officer Cdr. S. Raj along with a team of able Airline experts helped further, in meeting the highest standards in the aviation industry and in conforming to the Indian Aircraft Rules set by the Director General Civil Aviation. The first two batches of the cabin crew were extensively trained at the flight crew training facility at Frankfurt. Modiluft was perhaps the only Airline to achieve an average aircraft utilization of a minimum 12 hours per day in Indian Skies. This was no ordinary feat, as it required constant supervision, resources and a team of through professionals at every level to make this possible.
ModiLuft was the only airline in India to fly a three class configuration compared to others Airlines, It had a First, Business and an Economy Class and an incident free track record of flying. It used Boeing 737-200 Aircraft leased from Lufthansa. ModiLuft did not last very long specially because the business parity of the German and Indian partners was not the same and problems arose. Then the cooperation was broken off and ModiLuft acquired Boeing 737-400 aircraft to replace the 737-200s from Air U K, but the future of ModiLuft was already sealed and the airline ceased operations in 1996. However, the air-operating certificate (AOC) of ModiLuft did not lapse and the airline due to lack of funds changed hands and renamed Royal Airways and later the AOC was used with a different set of promoters soon after which, the low cost model SpiceJet followed.[6] SpiceJet leased 3 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation jet aircraft. SpiceJet chose to buy in modern Boeing NGs after an year long research and study.[7] On March 7, 2005, the Airports Authority of India approved three overnight parking slots (for aircraft) to SpiceJet, with two in Delhi and one in Mumbai. They announced that flights will commence in May after the first of the 30 Boeing 737-800 aircraft arrive in April.[8] SpiceJet opened bookings on May 18, 2005 and results followed immediately as over 37,000 were booked out in just one day, setting a new record in the Asian continent. Red Hot Special Fares were introduced ranging from 99 (US$1.88) to 799 (US$15.18).[9] The first flight was flagged off by the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri. Praful Patel. The first Boeing 737-800 aircraft left Delhi for Mumbai via Ahmedabad on May 24, 2005.[10] It was very successful and by 2008, it was India's second-largest low-cost airline in terms of market share. On 15 July 2008 billionaire Wilbur Ross suggested he would invest 345 crore (US$65.55 million) in the airline. SpiceJet accepted an offer in principle from a US-based private equity firm that would make these funds available. Indian media baron Kalanidhi Maran acquired 37.7% in the business in June 2010.[11][12] After completing 5 years of flying, SpiceJet was allowed to commence international flights by the Airports Authority of India on September 7, 2010. Spicejet launched flights from Delhi to Kathmandu and Chennai to Colombo. The first international flight took off on October 7, 2010 from the Delhi airport.[13] On December 9, 2010, Bombardier Aerospace announced that SpiceJet placed a firm order for 15 Q400 NextGen turboprop airliners and has also placed an option to buy another 15 of those. SpiceJet used their fleet of Q400's for short-haul operations.[14]
Spicejet services has been riddled by delays. On occasions of delays, some passengers have been left stranded after repeated delay announcements followed by abrupt cancellations.[15][16][17] As per DGCA data, more than 17,480 passengers of Spicejet have been affected by delays of more than two hours in Jan 2011 alone.[18] That Spicejet is the worst hit among low cost carriers is exemplified by the fact that this number stays unabated at a staggering 15,629 in July 2011.[19] Spicejet has also been pulled-up by the aviation watchdog DGCA, for abruptly cancelling flights without informing passengers [20] In April 2011, SpiceJet announced that they chose Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport as the first and primary base for its new fleet of Bombardier Q-400 NextGen aircraft. From Hyderabad, SpiceJet launched flights to Aurangabad, Bhubaneswar, Goa, Indore, Madurai, Mangalore, Nagpur, Nasik, Raipur, Rajahmundry, Tirupati, and Vijayawada with the new fleet. Neil Mills, the Chief Executive Officer of SpiceJet said on choosing Hyderabad as the hub that "The Hyderabad Airport provides state of the art infrastructure support for our plans for the Q-400 aircraft. The South Central location of Hyderabad reduces flying time to any of the regional cities by 15-20 minutes, in comparison to other metros in the South. The location advantage of Hyderabad will allow us to explore and develop markets in the west, central and eastern part of the country apart from the strong consumer markets of the south. Hyderabad thus has the potential to become one of the main gateways in India and a key part of our Q-400 operations."[21] SpiceJet now aims to become the nations most preferred low-cost airline by delivering the lowest air fares with the highest consumer value. They wish to fulfill everyone's dream of flying by providing attractive flights with attractively low fares. Each of SpiceJet's employee is trained to behave in a smart, friendly and efficient manner so that they ensure every passenger feels welcome and looked after. The pilots and flight attendants are all well experienced. SpiceJet also heavily invests in safety of the passengers and maintenance of the aircraft. The key management personnel of SpiceJet are all professionals and are hand-picked for their technical knowledge and expertise. SpiceJet now competes with IndiGo and the Indian Railways. As India's economy and businesses are growing, the dream for flying has become common and SpiceJet's mission is to ensure that flying is for everyone.[22]
SpiceJet operates over 243 flights daily to 31 Indian cities viz. Agartala, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bagdogra, Bhopal, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Guwahati, Goa, Indore, Hyderabad, Jammu, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mumbai, Mangalore, Nagpur, Pune, Rajahmundry, Srinagar, Trichy, Tirupati, Trivandrum, Tuticorin, Varanasi, Vijaywada and Visakhapatnam. On the international front, SpiceJet operates flights to Kathmandu and Colombo.[23]
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Options | Passengers (Economy) |
Notes |
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| Boeing 737-800 | 26 | 22 | 189 | New deliveries since December 2010 | |
| Boeing 737-900ER | 6 | 212 | |||
| Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 78 | New deliveries since August 2011 |
| Total | 39 | 30 | 15 |
In November 2010, SpiceJet finalized their order for 30 Next-Generation Boeing 737-800s with winglets in the presence of the American president, Barrak Obama. Neil Mills, the chief executive officer of SpiceJet said "We are extremely satisfied with the Next-Generation 737 — an airplane that is reliable, allows for greater efficiency in maintenance and supports the business plan for low-cost carriers."[24] Again on December 9, 2010, SpiceJet made a firm order for 15 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 and took options to purchase a further 15. The firm order is valued at approximately US$446 million as of now and can go up to US$915 million if the 15 options are finalized.[14] Each aircraft in the SpiceJet fleet is named after a spice[25][26] Currently, SpiceJet owns 39 aircraft with an average age of 4.6 years.[27]
In order to keep the fares low and affordable, SpiceJet offers an assortment of vegetarian/non-vegetarian sandwiches, cookies, flavored nuts, soft drinks and juices as a buy-on-board option. As a low-cost carrier, SpiceJet offers only complimentary mineral water to passengers on board its flights. SpiceJet also allows food to be carried on board. However, the food should be cold snacks, non-alcoholic drinks, snack bars and biscuits. Messy, oily or smelly food items are not allowed on board.[28] Per Spicejet Baggage rules, a maximum of 20 kg of baggage is allowed per paying passenger. However, international passengers can carry 2 bags weighing nothing more than 23 kilograms each. The cost of carrying excess baggage is Rs 100 per kg for a one-way trip. Also, the weight of the cabin baggage should not be exceeding 10 kg. The size of the cabin baggage is as of now, 55 cm + 35 cm + 25 cm. Cabin baggage is not allowed in flights connecting the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.[29] SpiceJet allows customers to earn reward points and cash back offers as they book using their SpiceJet State Bank of India Master Card which was recently introduced by SpiceJet in collaboration with the State Bank of India and Mastercard. They also provide Insurances Air Accident Insurance, Delayed Flight Insurance, and Lost Baggage Insurance.[30]
The price policy of SpiceJet is usually very dynamic, with discounts and tickets in promotion. Like other carriers, even if the advertised price may be very low, it often does not include charges & taxes. As many as ten percent of the seats on any flight are offered at the lowest price, and are the first to sell. The prices steadily rise thereafter to a point where they can be comparable or more expensive than a flight on a full-service carrier like Air India. Aircraft often operate with a minimum set of optional equipment, further reducing costs of acquisition and maintenance, as well as keeping the weight of the aircraft lower and thus saving fuel. Pilot conveniences may be excluded such as ACARS and autothrottle. Often, no in-flight entertainment systems are made available. SpiceJet often offers simpler fare scheme, such as charging one-way tickets half that of round-trips. Typically fares increase as the plane fills up, which rewards early reservations. Often, SpiceJet flies to smaller, less congested secondary airports and/or fly to airports in off-peak hours to avoid air traffic delays and taking advantage of lower landing fees. SpiceJet tends to offload, service and re-load the aircraft (turnaround) in shorter time periods, allowing maximum utilization of aircraft.
SpiceJet operates aircraft configured with a single passenger class, and most operate just a single type of aircraft. The fleet consists of smaller, newer, more fuel efficient aircraft, commonly the Boeing 737 families, reducing training and servicing costs. SpiceJet has a disinclination to handle Special Service passengers, for instance by placing a higher age limit on unaccompanied minors[31] than full service carriers. SpiceJet offers no refunds or transfers to later flights in the event of missed flights; if the aircraft leaves on time without a passenger who arrived late, he will have to buy a wholly new ticket for the next flight.
SpiceJet has won the following awards for its excellent service across the Indian airspace.[32]
| Year | Trend | Total Income | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 5.37 million (US$102,030) | [33] | |
| 2001 | 16.32 million (US$310,080) | [34] | |
| 2002 | 37.6 million (US$714,400) | [35] | |
| 2003 | 16.08 million (US$305,520) | [36] | |
| 2004 | 41.46 million (US$787,740) | [37] | |
| 2005 | 38.7 million (US$735,300) | [38] | |
| 2006 | 4,531.47 million (US$86.1 million) | [39] | |
| 2007 | 7,482.79 million (US$142.17 million) | [40] | |
| 2008 | 14,385.79 million (US$273.33 million) | [41] | |
| 2009 | 18,819.79 million (US$357.58 million) | [42] | |
| 2010 | 22,420.91 million (US$426 million) | [43] | |
| 2011 | 29,606.04 million (US$562.51 million) | [44] |
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