Airbus or Boeing? SpiceJet $11b deal rests on timeliness

SpiceJet, the Indian budget carrier choosing between Boeing and Airbus for its at least $11b order, has one condition: Delivery needs to be on time. "One of the selling points for anybody to make the offer more attractive to SpiceJet would be early deliveries," Chairman Ajay Singh said. "When Airbus and Boeing are talking to us, they are mindful of the fact that we need early deliveries." Shares of the operator of IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, plunged 19% on Jan. 22 after saying Airbus will be unable to keep to the schedule for delivering the A320neo, while Qatar Airways declined to take delivery of the A320neo because the engine needed special measures at start up. There is no clarity yet on when actual deliveries will take place to these airlines. Deliveries of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners were delayed by three years. "I don’t want to have a situation where I do the deal wrong," Singh said. "We are in a competitive space. We need to ensure that we are not in a situation that our deliveries are delayed. We need to make sure that we get planes which are more fuel efficient, sooner rather than later."<br/>