‘Can’t say all is well...’ SpiceJet's Ajay Singh describes aviation sector amid Ukraine-Russia war

The Ukraine-Russia war has made the Aviation sector go through turbulent times and airlines across the globe are facing problems. The supply and demand of oil issues have increased manifold creating multiple snags in aircraft. Ajay Singh, Chairman of low-cost airline SpiceJet has described the aviation sector as "not doing well" and hopes for oil prices to come down for a better future for the aviation industry. 

During the roundtable meeting of the CEOs of trade body Assocham on Tuesday, Singh said, "Not only with SpiceJet, I think you can't say all is well in all the airlines in the world today. We are ensuring that we become stronger with time. Hopefully, oil prices are coming down and as we have seen demand is picking up and new aircraft will join the SpiceJet fleet soon. We are on our way to a better future.”

In addition, Ajay Singh described the aviation sector as not doing well due to the Russia-Ukraine war in terms of oil supply and demand issues. "Russia-Ukraine war impacted everywhere around the world because of oil prices had gone up to a level which is completely unheard of and jet fuel prices as a consequence have gone up not on the record levels... to the state that jet fuel now contributes 70 to 80 percent of airline revenues.. and so, therefore, of course, it has impacted gravely and in a very, very damaging manner," the SpiceJet CMD told ANI. 

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Recently we have seen reports that SpiceJet planes and its lessors have a problem, and some of the pending dues with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are a matter of concern for India's low-cost carrier SpiceJet, but the airline CMD clearly stated that all the ongoing issues have been resolved. 

"These are the ongoing issues just as we have always found settlement with all our partners all settlements with every single lessor were done," Singh said. Earlier, SpiceJet had announced that the company has also agreed with aircraft lessor Goshawk Aviation Limited and its affiliated leasing entities and others. 

On issues of reporting malfunctions in daily operations, SpiceJet`s CMD clarified that SpiceJet is safe to fly, including all Indian airlines. "Spicejet is an extremely safe airline all airlines in the country are extremely safe. I think in the last 15 or 20 days you probably heard of fewer snags. Few snags have been reported but minor snags are part and parcel of this industry not only in India but all over the world, but my message to the passengers is that Indian airlines and the Indian aviation ecosystem are extremely safe," Singh said. 

This year in April 2022, India's aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) barred almost 90 pilots of the airline from operating Boeing 737 MAX aircraft because they were not properly trained. As per DGCA official, "Those pilots were trained on a faulty simulator, and the aviation regulator asked the airline to retrain the pilots, in addition to a fine of Rs 10 lakh." 

(With inputs from ANI)