http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/258534_spicejet07.html SpiceJet's key ingredient: The 737 By JAMES WALLACE P-I AEROSPACE REPORTER Air travel in India is as hot as the Indian spices for which each of the five leased jets operated by SpiceJet has been named. That market, and SpiceJet, a fairly new low-cost Indian airline, are going to get even hotter. Today, SpiceJet executives are taking delivery in Seattle of the first of 10 Boeing 737-800s ordered earlier this year. The airline has options to buy 10 more and intends to exercise all those options, said Ajay Singh, a SpiceJet board director. "There is a huge potential market out there (in India)," he said Monday in an interview at Boeing's commercial airplanes headquarters in Renton. Within three years, he said, SpiceJet will be operating nearly 30 jets. All will be Boeing 737s. SpiceJet is following the business model that made Southwest the biggest low-cost airline in the world and Dublin, Ireland-based Ryanair the biggest low-cost airline in Europe. That business model is simple: Stick with one airplane type and operate those jets with one class and with no frills, not even food. SpiceJet is part of an airline frenzy in India, which along with China is the world's hottest market for new airplanes.>>
