SpiceJet's Ajay Singh comes to rescue of ailing carrier

SpiceJet's erstwhile co-promoter Ajay Singh is back in the game. Sources close to developments told MAIL TODAY that white knight Singh is "seriously looking" at the ailing airline prodded by several of his former colleagues to step up to the plate.

Singh met civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday and presented him with a rough architecture which not only will keep the airline going, but also build on the earlier competencies of a no-frills carrier .

Furthermore, the ecosystem has undergone a transformation over the last few months with aviation turbine fuel prices falling off the cliff. Given that there are plenty of positives and the airline requires a booster shot of efficient management, Singh is reported to be in a dialogue with promoter Kalanithi Maran and his team on how to revive it on an immediate basis.

He still holds 4.5 per cent shareholding in the company and while Maran (53.48 per cent) bought Wilbur Ross and Bhupendra Kansagra's equity, Singh had also diluted some of his 10-plus-per cent holding in the open market.

Singh is already talking to a clutch of domestic and international investors, including Wilbur Ross, which had exited in favour of Maran, and a capital infusion of Rs 1,200 crore is on the anvil-and this is immediate. Raju confirmed that the airline had sought rescheduling of its dues to various vendors and service providers, including airports and oil marketing companies. SpiceJet has debt of Rs 1,600 crore as on December 5, which had prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to it under heightened surveillance.

Singh had met civil aviation secretary V. Somasundaran on Wednesday. Singh had exited from the carrier over four years ago. Though Singh did not speak to reporters, sources said that he held discussions with SpiceJet officials before meeting Raju and Somasundaran.

Singh, who ran the low-cost carrier in an extremely spiffy and profitable manner and then went to head the Bharatiya Janata Party's 2014 election campaign. For Singh, a return to SpiceJet is a 'conscious call' because it 'cannot be allowed to fail' because it will lead a major disruption of the aviation sector.

Sources also told MAIL TODAY that Maran's top-deck team overseeing the airline has horribly mismanaged operations using the flawed strategy of acquiring market share through cheap fares. Singh is believed to be keen to manage the operations personally. The first priority is to straighten out the financial stress through rounds of recapitalisation.

Meanwhile, SpiceJet continued to nosedive into the air pocket with operations remaining almost paralysed. Though SpiceJet claimed that all 230 flights were scheduled to operate and apologised to passengers for the disruptions, it had operated 21 out of 32 flights from IGI Airport till 6 pm.