Spicejet:Security clearance sought for appointing Singh as dir

The Civil Aviation Ministry has sent the name of Ajay Singh to the Home Ministry for security clearance before approving his appointment as a director of cash-strapped SpiceJet, where he will take a majority stake.
Singh, the original co-founder of SpiceJet, is in the process of acquiring 58.46 per cent stake in the carrier from the Marans.
The file relating to Singh's security clearance was sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) last week, Ministry of Civil Aviation sources said.
Once the Home Ministry's clearance is in place, the Civil Aviation Ministry will give its final approval to Singh's appointment as director, they said.

The board of SpiceJet, last week, approved the proposal to transfer Maran's entire 58.46 per cent stake in SpiceJet to Singh as part of a revival plan, which has already been cleared by the Civil Aviation Ministry.
Singh decided to re-board the budget carrier, which he had co-founded with UK-based Kansagra family in 2005, after the airline was almost grounded due to fund drought.

As part of the revival plan, Kalanithi Maran, his wife Kavery Kalanithi and Managing Director S Natrajhen have already resigned from the SpiceJet board.
The airline, which had curtailed its operations to around 230 daily flights from a peak of around 345 flights due to the financial stress, also plans to enhance its operations from the summer schedule.

The summer schedule of airlines in India commences from March-end and lasts up to October every year.
Once the takeover process is completed, SpiceJet plans to increase its Boeing-737 fleet to 26 aircraft from 19 now.