SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International) has settled another lease dispute out of court, with the LCC advising the Bombay Stock Exchange on March 7 that it had come to terms with Echelon Ireland Madison One Ltd., a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) controlled by California-based Pacific AirFinance. The lessor was pursuing SpiceJet for USD49.8 million.
SpiceJet's chairman and managing director, Ajay Singh, claimed in the filing that the settlement brings savings of USD48 million to the airline and "also enables us to further fortify our fleet with the acquisition of two airframes."
The ch-aviation fleets module shows Echelon has two B737-700s registered as VT-SYT (msn 34805) and VT-SYU (msn 34806) placed at SpiceJet. However, both aircraft have not flown for a considerable time, with VT-SYT stored at Chennai and VT-SYU at Delhi International.
This is SpiceJet's third recent out-of-court settlement, with the airline also settling a USD29.9 million lease dispute with AerCap SPV Celestial Aviation Services Limited (UK), and ending an USD11.2 million dispute with Cross Ocean Partners. The flurry of settlements follows two capital raisings earlier this year, totalling USD127.9 million, which represent two tranches in a broader plan to raise USD271.5 million.
Separately, SpiceJet has confirmed to local business media that the sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority had acquired an unspecified amount of shares in the airline. The Times of India also noted that the level of foreign institutional investment in SpiceJet had increased from 0.3% of the airline's issued capital in December 2023 to 6.2% in February. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which reportedly began buying up SpiceJet shares in February, declined to comment when contacted by ch-aviation.
