SpiceJet surges as government proposes Udan expansion

The stock surged 15% to Rs 142 on BSE in intra-day trade on back of heavy volumes.

SpiceJet has surged 15% to Rs 142 on BSE in intra-day trade after Finance  Minister Arun Jaitley said the low-cost air connectivity scheme, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), will connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads.

“In the last three years, the domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18% per annum and our airline companies placed orders for more than 900 aircrafts. Regional connectivity scheme of UDAN initiated by the Government last year shall connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads across the country. Operations have already started at 16 such airports,” Jaitely said today, as he announced a Budget 2018-19.

"Even those who wear 'hawaii chappal' can now travel by 'hawaii jahaj'", said finance minister plan to expand the capacity of airports for the common man to be able to take to the skies.

“Airport Authority of India (AAI) has 124 airports. We propose to expand our airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year under a new initiative – NABH Nirman. Balance sheet of AAI shall be leveraged to raise more resources for funding this expansion”, Jaitley said.

At 01:00 PM; the stock was up 6% at Rs 131, as compared to 0.18% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter more than doubled with 5.5 million shares changed hands so far against an average 2.19 million shares were traded daily in past two weeks on BSE.

SpiceJet is India's best low cost airline, delivering the lowest air fares with the highest consumer value. The company operates 119 flights daily to 18 cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bagdogra, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Guwahati, Goa, Hyderabad, Jammu, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Srinagar, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam.

Jet Airways (India) and InterGlobe Aviation, which operates IndiGo airlines, were up 1% at Rs 764, and Rs 1,223, respectively.