SpiceJet announced yet another batch of new flights, emerging as by far the most aggressive airline in the wake of the demise of Jet Airways.
This time, it announced 19 new flights, taking the total to 65 new flights announced in the last one month alone.
The new flights announced today all connect Mumbai with other towns and cities. All these flights will be effective starting end of this week.
The new flights are likely using some of the new aircraft introduced into SpiceJet’s fleet recently. In early April, the airline had announced that it would take 16 new aircraft on lease.
This is the third major expansion of flights in a month. On 23 April, Spicejet had announced 28 new domestic flights and several new international flights, and before that, on 19 April it announced 24 new flights.
SpiceJet has also announced around ten new international flights in recent days, including those to Hong Kong, Jeddah, Dubai, Colombo, Dhaka, Riyadh, Bangkok and Kathmandu from Mumbai.
Out of the 65 new flights announced in the last one month, 40 are from or to Mumbai, 10 flights connect Delhi and 8 flights connect Mumbai to Delhi.
“We are taking all measures to deal with the shortage of capacity in the Indian aviation market. With these new and additional flights, we aim to minimize the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the ongoing crisis within the aviation industry,” said Chief Sales and Revenue Officer Shilpa Bhatia.
Rival Indigo Airlines, the biggest in India, has announced around 35 new flights over the same period.
With today’s announcement, SpiceJet is set to become the first low-cost carrier to introduce daily direct flights on the Mumbai-Madurai sector. Among the new flights announced today are those to Jammu via Srinagar, Dehradun and Guwahati — all from Mumbai.
New frequencies are being added to Srinagar, Coimbatore, Kochi, Jaipur, Chennai and Delhi.
With this, it has 8 flights between Delhi and Mumbai and 4 between Mumbai and Chennai.
All the new flights introduced will be operational daily, except the flight on the Mumbai-Kochi-Mumbai sector which will be operational all days of the week except Tuesdays. Deploying its Boeing 737 – 800 aircraft on these routes, SpiceJet aims to further strengthen its network between metros and non-metros.