The Sun Group-promoted SpiceJet is keen on offloading a part of its stake to an overseas investor as soon as the government gives green signal to the FDI policy, allowing foreign airlines to pick up to 49% stake in domestic airlines.

The SpiceJet board has already evolved a consensus on selling a part of the company to foreign investors. ?The airline is open to selling its stake ? it could be to financial investors or foreign airlines,? Neil Mills, CEO of SpiceJet, told FE on Thursday.

FE had earlier reported that the airline was in talks with Dubai-based Emirates for a majority stake sale. The carrier had officially refused to comment on the news then.

Even now, Mills did not divulge the name of the airline or the foreign investors that SpiceJet was in talks with. ?Many airlines have expressed interest. We do not now how much we would sell. It will all depend on the deal that they offer. As far as foreign airlines are concerned, for European airlines, it would not make much sense to buy into SpiceJet. It can be either a Gulf or a Southeast Asian airline,? he said.

The aviation ministry has already moved a Cabinet note on allowing foreign airlines to buy up to 49% in Indian carriers. The proposal, if cleared, is seen as a major relief to domestic carriers struggling to stay afloat.

Meanwhile, SpiceJet’s Q4 losses mounted to R249 crore during 2011-12 against R59 crore a year ago despite a 46% increase in sales to over R1,100 crore. Mills attributed the lossto high fuel cost. SpiceJet fuel bills shot up 55% in Q4.

With oil prices coming down from $115 per barrel to $103 in the last couple of weeks, the airline expects the losses to narrow.

?The fuel cost will come down further, once we start importing it directly. Also, our yields per seat have been going up significantly. So, the next quarter, things are definitely going to improve,? said Mills. The company has tied up with a third party ? transportation companies ? for importing fuel from various countries. It was initially in talks with Indian oil marketing companies for the same. However, Mills said, ?Indian oil firms were not interested. So, we had to look for other options.?

For 2011-12, the Chennai-based company’s net loss stood at R605 crore against a net profit of R101 crore a year before. Its income rose to R3,998 crore from R2,938 crore.

The carrier outperformed the industry passenger traffic growth of 16%. Its passenger traffic grew 24% and seat load factor crossed 80% from 74.4% during the same period a year before.