* Q4 net profit more than triples
* In talks with both Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Airbus
(Adds management comment, details)
By Aditi Shah
NEW DELHI, May 19 (Reuters) - India's SpiceJet Ltd SPJT.BO
hopes to place an order for more than 100 single-aisle planes in
the next two to three months, its chairman said, as the nation's
fourth-biggest airline by passenger market share reported a
surge in quarterly profit.
SpiceJet disclosed plans in November to buy more than 150
planes and that it was in talks with both Boeing BA.N and
Airbus AIR.PA . Its current fleet is mostly Boeing planes.
Ajay Singh, who last year took over the airline, rescuing it
from the brink of collapse, told a news conference on Thursday
that operations had stabilised and the carrier was cleaning up
legacy issues.
Talks are also continuing with small aircraft makers to
potentially add to its fleet of 14 Bombardier Q400 turboprop
planes, Singh said.
He had said in November that SpiceJet was in talks with
Bombardier, France's ATR - a joint venture between Airbus and
Finmeccanica - and Brazil's Embraer for 50 more smaller planes.
India's highly-competitive airline sector has benefited from
lower fuel prices and growing passenger numbers.
SpiceJet's net profit more than tripled to 730 million
rupees ($10.8 million) for the three months to March 31, from
225 million rupees a year earlier, it said in a statement.
The results included one-time gains of about 637 million
rupees, and also one-time expenses of 1.73 billion rupees
towards "stabilising and improving the reliability of its
fleet", the airline said.
($1 = 67.3700 Indian rupees)
(Writing by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Mark Potter)