NEW DELHI: SpiceJet is in talks with Boeing and Airbus Group to buy more than 100 single-aisle jets worth about $11 billion at list prices, in what would be the Indian budget carrier’s largest-ever plane order.
The discussions are for Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737Max aircraft, SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh said in an interview on Tuesday at Gurgaon, near New Delhi. A deal could be signed during the current financial year, which ends March 31.
SpiceJet currently flies 18 Boeing 737 jets and has two Airbus planes on wet-lease, but a purchase from Airbus would be its first from the French planemaker.
IndiGo, the country’s biggest carrier, and the Indian units of Singapore Airlines and AirAsia fly only Airbus jets.
“We will bring in some investments at the time of the order,” Singh said, “The order will depend on what volume level we get at what price,” but it will be for more than 100 planes, he said.
Any new investment in SpiceJet probably would take the form of new shares or debt, Chief Financial Officer Kiran Koteshwar said in a separate interview on Tuesday.
Talks don’t mean a deal ultimately will be concluded.
IndiGo signed an initial agreement with Airbus in October 2014 for 250 A320neo planes, in what would have been Airbus’s largest order by number of aircraft.
Since then, the terms expired before a final deal was signed.
The cmpanies remain in talks, according to IndiGo.
SpiceJet, which ran into financial trouble last year and was on the verge of shutting down, was rescued by co-founder and current chairman Singh.
Since then, the carrier has posted two consecutive quarters of profit.
The airline said on Tuesday it posted Rs718.5 million ($11 million) in net income in the quarter through June, compared to a 1.24 billion rupee loss a year earlier.
