The Indian press has applauded the turnaround of SpiceJet, which has succeeded in resuming profitable flights less than three years after it was forced to ground its entire fleet on its inability to pay $2.2 million in fuel bills. The airline was rescued by the company’s co-founder and Chairman Ajay Singh, who injected capital, cut loss-making routes and aggressively added capacity. As a result, SpiceJet shares are the best performers on a Bloomberg Intelligence index of airline stocks this year. The stock is up 124 per cent in 2017 and has gained more than 800 per cent since the company’s near-demise in December 2014, giving SpiceJet a market value of $1.2 billion.
Singh said that SpiceJet’s stock is “greatly undervalued” even at these levels, in an interview to Bloomberg Television and has ruled out any plan to sell a stake since there is so much potential for growth in the burgeoning Indian market.