India's SpiceJet to own 13 Bombardier Q400 planes after $91 million settlement

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian budget carrier SpiceJet said on Tuesday it had agreed with Export Development Canada (EDC) to settle liabilities worth around $91 million, allowing it to take ownership of 13 of 15 Bombardier Q400 aircraft financed by the Canadian trade finance agency.

Shares of SpiceJet ended 3.9% higher on Tuesday after rising as much as 7.2%.

"This settlement marks the biggest breakthrough in SpiceJet's financial restructuring efforts to date," the airline said in a statement.

SpiceJet has over the last few months reached settlements with multiple leasing companies, including AerCap, the world's largest aircraft lessor, as the company looks to restore its grounded fleet and return to full capacity.

The settlement is also the latest in a series of cost-saving exercises at the cash-strapped airline, which said these would result in savings of $68 million. Last month, the company cut jobs, saying it would save $12 million annually.

The liabilities were from a loan taken from EDC for the purchase of 15 Q400 aircraft in 2011, the airline said.

The export credit agency provided financing in the range of C$250 million to C$500 million to support the sale of Canada-based Bombardier Inc's 's sale of Q400 aircraft to SpiceJet, EDC said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The EDC, however, did not disclose the settlement amount.

SpiceJet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As of March, the airline had an operational fleet of 39 aircraft, mostly Boeing 737s, and a few Bombardier Q400 jets. The airline's complete ownership of the Q400 jets would let it launch new flights on regional routes, it said.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Chandni Shah; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Sonia Cheema and Maju Samuel)

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