SpiceJet Rallies Over 7% On Announcing New Routes

Shares of the budget airline operator, SpiceJet, rose as much as 7.5 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 77.40 after the company announced flights on new domestic and international routes. The Gurugram-based airline operator announced new daily direct flight from Mumbai to Kishangarh (Ajmer) and return flight from Kishangarh (Ajmer) to Mumbai.

SpiceJet will start a flight from Mumbai to Jharsuguda in Odisha from September 17, the company said on microblogging site Twitter. The flight will operate on every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

The company has also announced additional direct flights on Mumbai-Delhi and Mumbai- Goa routes. Apart from direct flights, SpiceJet has also added one-stop flight from Mumbai to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.

In another development, SpiceJet settled with another lessor of Boeing Co's MAX aircraft, CDB Aviation, as it looks to start operating the aircraft by the end of September after India cleared the 737 MAX to fly last month.

The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two fatal crashes in five months killed 346 people, plunging Boeing into a financial crisis, which has since been compounded by the pandemic.

In August, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said it cleared 737 MAX aircraft to fly with immediate effect, after nearly two-and-a-half years of regulatory grounding.

SpiceJet said in August it expected the grounded 737 MAX jets in its fleet to return to service at the end of September after a settlement with lessor Avolon on leases of the aircraft.

As of 1:35 pm, SpiceJet shares traded 5.42 per cent higher at Rs 75.85, outperforming the Sensex which was up 0.75 per cent.