SpiceJet passengers stranded at Dubai airport after flight cancellations

Mumbai: Hundreds of SpiceJet passengers were stranded at the Dubai airport on Wednesday after some flights were cancelled due to to non-payment of dues by the airline to the Dubai airport authorities, according to a source.

A SpiceJet spokesperson on Thursday said few flights from Dubai to India were cancelled due to operational reasons on Wednesday but did not elaborate.

The source in the know said around 10 SpiceJet flights, which were to be operated to various Indian cities from Dubai, were cancelled due to non-payment of dues.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Dubai airport as a result of this, the source said.

"On July 31, 2024, a few flights from Dubai to India were cancelled due to operational reasons.

"The airline took immediate steps to mitigate the impact by rebooking affected passengers on subsequent flights and providing hotel accommodations," the airline spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that all its scheduled flights from Dubai are now operating as planned.

Ajay Singh-promoted debt-ridden SpiceJet has been struggling for funds for quite some time now with the airline delaying salaries to its staff and payments to its vendors.

It has also reportedly not deposited the Employee Provident Fund Contributions to its 11,581 staff since January 2022.

Though the airline reported a standalone profit of Rs 119 crore in the January-March quarter of the previous fiscal, for the December quarter of the same year its losses stood at Rs 301.45 crore as against a profit of Rs 106.82 crore in FY23.

For full fiscal 2023-24, the airline posted a loss of Rs 409.43 crore against a loss of Rs 1,503 crore in FY23, the filing said.

On July 23, SpiceJet's board approved the airline's proposal to raise up to Rs 3,000 crore by issuing equity shares or other securities through the qualified institutional placement (QIP) process.

In January this year, SpiceJet received in-principle approval from the BSE for a fund infusion of Rs 2,242 crore but could mop up only Rs 1,060 crore under preferential issue in two tranches.

As on August 2 as many as 37 aircraft -- 18 Boeing 737 and 18 regional jets Q400 and one A340 -- were on ground, owing to multiple reasons, as per the aircraft fleet tracking website planespotter.net.

SpiceJet has a total of 59 planes in its fleet which include 32 Boeing737 and 24 Q400.

Besides, it also has one Airbus 340 and two Airbus A320, which are on wet-lease.