SpiceJet to add six new aircraft, 41 more flights

With six new planes in 30 days, airline to raise daily flights to 291 from 250, adding 10 new sectors

Budget passenger carrier SpiceJet on Friday said it has embarked upon a major fleet and flight expansion programme for the upcoming winter season.

It said it will induct six new aircraft within 30 days, calling the move "a first of its kind initiative in the history of Indian aviation".

Currently, the airline has in its next generation fleet 20 Boeing 737 and 1 Airbus A319 aircraft along with 14 Bombardier Q-400 aircraft.

According to the airline, the fresh induction was part of a comprehensive plan to meet the winter demand.

SpiceJet also unveiled a new winter schedule, raising a total daily flight operation to 291 from the current 250, adding 10 new sectors, 30 new frequencies and 22 connecting flights.

"We have been speedily moving on the growth path by consistently adding new flights to enhance our overall network," said Shilpa Bhatia, senior vice president and head of sales and distribution, SpiceJet.

"With the new network schedule, we are offering better timings, increased frequencies. With this enhancement we have significantly growing our capacity by 16 percent."

It said the newly added sectors in the winter schedule effective from October 25 were Ahmedabad-Goa, Mumbai-Varanasi and Varanasi-Hyderabad. The flights for Khozhikode-Dubai and Amritsar-Dubai are to start from November 15.

Under the winter schedule, the airline has reinforced its frequencies on multiple routes such as Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Chennai, Goa-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata, Kolkata-Agartala, Mumbai-Kochi, Hyderabad-Mumbai and Chennai-Madurai among others.