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SpiceJet has denied it is in talks with Qatar Airways for sale of slots. “This is completely baseless,” the airline’s CEO Sanjiv Kapoor told newspersons here on Friday.
In a statement to the BSE, the airline said, “We also confirm that there is no truth whatsoever in the scheduling of a meeting to discuss investment plans with Qatar Airways.”
Asked about SpiceJet’s plans of getting in a potential investor, Kapoor said the list of potential investors is “really small,” but declined to get into specifics of whether another airline or investor was interested in picking up a stake in the airline.
“The matter is being handled out of Chennai. Besides, the promoters are pumping money into the airline,” he said.
The airline posted a loss of over a ₹1,000 crore for fiscal 2014.
New food menu Meanwhile, SpiceJet has announced a partnership with TajSats and Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) to offer an ‘all new and enhanced’ food and beverage menu. The new menu will be available on all its flights from Friday. Under the partnership, TajSats and CCD will handle the airline’s catering.
Kapoor said SpiceJet was working toward becoming like a JetBlue or Virgin America. “We have redesigned routes to be more attractive for corporate customers,” he added.
Spend on marketing The airline is also spending on marketing to encourage people to try it. “You cannot turn an ocean liner around overnight but we are starting to move in the right direction. The turnaround will be very visible,” he added.
More services The airline also has plans of increasing the frequency of its flights in the domestic market. In the international market, it plans to operate to Dhaka soon and to Dubai when the runway work at Dubai airport is completed apart from adding more flights to Kabul, Kapoor said.
The airline’s Bangkok flights will resume once the situation in Thailand improves. “Down the road, flights will also be to Hong Kong,” he added.
Airline officials pointed out they had applied to the Government for permission to operate 7,000 more seats a week to Qatar.
The CEO said the airline hiked fares by 10 per cent for bookings made 14 days before travel. “This happened in May and every one followed,” he added.
SpiceJet also announced that it would make changes to its Boeing fleet offering more leg room space to passengers sitting in the first five rows. The new product is expected to be rolled out in the next two-to-three weeks, officials said.
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