SpiceJet on Monday said it has raised ₹3,000 crore through a qualified institutional placement that attracted marquee investors, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Societe Generale. The embattled low-cost airline will also receive an additional ₹736 crore from an earlier round of funding.
The news sent shares of the company up more than 6% on the BSE. The financial refill should help the airline regain lost altitude. Its profitability has weakened amid a sharp decline in market share to just over 2% from above 10% back in 2021. Its woes stemmed mostly from the pandemic.
Service disruptions and engine troubles forced the grounding of many aircraft. Fresh funds for it should be welcomed by India’s aviation market, which has seen three air carriers fold up over the past decade, leaving it dominated by IndiGo and the Tata-owned Air India with its other airlines.
Two players effectively hold more than four-fifths of the market. Thankfully, with fuel prices stable and India’s airport infrastructure in expansion mode as more people take to the skies, opportunities for growth abound. But the market needs to be competitive. This calls for more airlines, not less.