India, Nov. 18 -- For the last couple of months, low fare airline SpiceJet and its chairman Ajay Singh who has been valiantly piloting this rocky boat since the pandemic, has been in the news for a strange combination of reasons.

One, in September a Q400 lost a wheel soon after take-off (it simply fell off) but the aircraft landed safely after a full emergency was declared at Mumbai airport. The same month, the airline offered a Rs.32 crore interest free advance (for reasons that remain a mystery) to its chairman, with a subsequent statement claiming it was not "prejudicial to the airline's interests" even as software giant TCS took it to court for failing to pay dues.

In October, the airline's fleet touched a new low of 24 operational ...