SpiceJet soars 13 per cent as the Boeing 737 Max gets US FAA clearance

Shares of budget airline, SpiceJet were up by almost 13 per cent on Thursday after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared the Boeing 737 Max for flight after two-years of grounding.

The US aviation safely regulator, FAA had set grounding orders  in place in March 2019 after two crashes involving the aircraft. Rescinding the order that grounded the aircraft, the FAA has stated that the clearance would however not allow the plane to return immediately to the skies as the existing aircraft will need to be modified before going back into service, with changes to its design.

Alongside the software and wiring changes, pilots will also need training. The approved changes have eliminated what caused these particular accidents, the FAA said in a statement.

Excluding the grounded Jet Airways, SpiceJet is the sole operator of Boeing 737 Max planes in the country - operating 13 such planes in its fleet. The airline had earlier stated in its Q2 results that it was incurring various cost related to these 13 grounded planes.

At 1.20 pm on Thursday, the stock of SpiceJet was trading at Rs 75 per share, up by 13.04 per cent or Rs 8.65 per share on BSE, against a 0.38 per cent decline in the benchmark index. The 52-week high is recorded at Rs 120 and the 52-week low is Rs 30.80 on the BSE.