SpiceJet Shares Sink 4% After 80 Pilots Sent On 3 Months Leave Without Pay

Budget carrier SpiceJet on September 20, 2022 asked 80 of its pilots to go on a three-month leave without any pay. Today the shares of SpiceJet has already fallen 3.90% on BSE till 11: 30 am at 41.90 apiece. The stock has fallen 71% in the last 5 years, 66% in the last 3 years, and 47% in the last 1 year.

It is worth mentioning that in the last 3 years, only 3.51% trading sessions witnessed intraday gained more than 5%.

The mid-cap company has a market capitalisation of Rs 2,521 crore at the time of writing the story. Its 52-week high is Rs 87 apiece and 52-week low is Rs 34 apiece, respectively.

The company for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 announced a consolidated total income of Rs 2,474.32 crore, up 16.40 % from last quarter total income of Rs 2,125.69 crore. It has declared a net profit after tax of Rs -783.62 crore in latest quarter.

The decision of sending 80 pilots on 3-months leave without pay has been taken to rationalize cost and is reportedly a temporary measure. The company is headquartered in Gurgaon. "This measure, which is in line with SpiceJet's policy of not retrenching any employee which the airline steadfastly followed even during the peak of the Covid pandemic, will help rationalise the pilot strength vis- -vis the aircraft fleet," said the budget carrier in its official statement.

SpiceJet's mission is to become India's preferred low-cost airline, delivering the lowest air fares with the highest customer value, to price sensitive customers. SpiceJet has recently added to its fleet the B737- MAX 8 aircraft which are newly designed, state-of-art aircraft with the new fuel-efficient engines (CFM LEAP 1B).

SpiceJet operates a fleet of Boeing and Q-400s that allow for greater efficiency in maintenance and to support its low-cost structure, according to its official website.