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SpiceJet to Start Flights to Kathmandu, Colombo From India Next Month
SpiceJet Ltd., an Indian discount carrier backed by billionaire Kalanithi Maran, will start international flights from next month as it expands operations to benefit from rising travel demand.
The airline will fly to Kathmandu, Nepal, from New Delhi six days a week from Oct. 7, it said in an e-mailed statement today. A daily service to Colombo from Chennai in south India will begin two days later.
SpiceJet, based in New Delhi, aims to tap overseas travel demand as Indian rules allowed it to start international flights after completing five years of operations in May. The carrier will compete with Jet Airways (India) Ltd., Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. and state-owned Air India in its new routes.
“Many passengers travelling to destinations in South Asia from India are very price conscious,” said Shumukh Ghosh, a Mumbai-based analyst at Naman Securities and Finance Pvt. “The move will help SpiceJet,” said Ghosh, who has a “buy” rating on the stock.
The carrier’s stock rose 0.6 percent to 76.15 rupees at close of trading in Mumbai. The shares have gained 34 percent this year compared with a 6.8 percent advance by the benchmark Sensitive Index and Jet Airways’s 36 percent climb.
SpiceJet, the only listed Indian carrier to post an annual profit last fiscal year, said in July that it will buy 30 Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft. It currently operates 141 flights daily with 22 planes.
Sun TV Network Ltd.’s Chairman Maran bought a 38 percent stake in SpiceJet in June from investors including Wilbur Ross.
To contact the reporter on this story: Siddharth Philip in Mumbai at sphilip3@bloomberg.net.
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