SpiceJet says India's US$85b plane orders still not enough

New Delhi

INDIA'S airlines have ordered about 850 planes valued at about US$85 billion in recent years. SpiceJet Ltd, a budget carrier, said that this is still not enough to meet demand.

SpiceJet, which last month ordered as many as 205 Boeing Co jets worth US$22 billion, is being rather conservative with its purchases, the carrier's chairman Ajay Singh said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Singapore on Wednesday. Demand will surge with more Indians starting to fly, fuelled by economic growth in smaller towns, he said.