SpiceJet to announce order for 42 Boeing 737 MAX planes

HYDERABAD – Kalanithi Maran-owned low-cost carrier SpiceJetBSE 5.80 % is set to finally announce an order for 42 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft today, a person in the know of the development said here. The order is worth $4.3 billion without adjusting for inflation or price discounts. All the 42 aircraft will be powered by engines made by General Electric.

Another person in the know of the development also added that the airline may have also negotiated an option for a further 42 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft which would take the total order worth to $8.6 billion.

“The order is likely to be announced today,” said the person in direct knowledge of the development.
SpiceJet’s aircraft order with Boeing has been an ongoing saga for about a year and a half now. The airline was first said to be announcing the order at the Paris Air Show last year. Earlier this year, rumors again gathered steam that the order will be announced at the Singapore Air Show.

Boeing’s Asia Pacific senior vice President Dinesh Keskar also fuelled further speculation during the Singapore Air Show after he told FlightGlobal.com that Boeing will soon announce a “significant” order from an Indian airline. He had not named the airline at the time.
While Boeing has orders from unnamed airlines in its orderbook, it is not clear whether SpiceJet is one of them.

SpiceJet already operates a fleet of 36 Boeing 737-800s and 6 Boeing 737-900s apart from 15 Bombardier Q400s. The low-cost carrier has been discount mode during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013-14, already announcing four separate windows of heavy discounts. This is despite the airline announcing a Rs 171 crore loss in the fiscal 2013-14 third quarter.