Kalanithi Maran-promoted SpiceJet, which was allotted 7,420 weekly seats for operations to Qatar on March 4 this year has not yet launched a single flight on the route from either of the five cities – Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Delhi and Trivandrum – it got the rights from.
The airline did not offer comments for the story. SpiceJet, which posted its highest ever net loss of Rs 1,003.24 crore for the year ended March, has said that it is in advanced stages of talks for capital infusion with an investor but denied reports that it was selling some of its overseas parking slots to Qatar Airways.
“I don’t expect SpiceJet to operate six daily flights to Doha given their challenges unless there is a specific understanding with Qatar Airways,” said Kapil Kaul, South Asia CEO of aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. “SpiceJet is heading for another loss in the first quarter of 2014-15. This year is most critical for the future of SpiceJet,” Kaul added.