SpiceJet to roll out 24 new daily flights, dry-lease 16 Boeing 737s

SpiceJet on Thursday announced that it will roll out 24 new daily flights along with dry-leasing more Boeing 737 planes.

The newly inducted flights will have routes originating from Mumbai or Delhi, as the airline seeks to fill the void left by the temporary grounding of its arch-rival Jet Airways. Of the new flights, 16 will originate from Mumbai, four will originate from Delhi, while the rest will connect the two metros with each other, SpiceJet said. Mumbai was one of the two main bases of Jet Airways prior to its Wednesday decision of stopping operations for time being.

The budget carrier also announced the expansion of its fleet by 21 planes including 16 B737s and five turboprops Bombardier Q400s. Besides connecting the country's financial hub with a host of international destinations, Spicejet will also introduce services connecting Mumbai to Jaipur, Patna, Bagdogra, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Kolkata and Mangaluru.

"SpiceJet will induct six more Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on dry lease and it has applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for a no-objection certificate (NOC) to import these planes," the airline said in a statement.

They added that subject to regulatory approvals, the new aircraft would begin being inducted into the Gurugram-based airline’s fleet in a matter of ten days.

Last week, SpiceJet had made two separate announcements saying that due to the grounding of Jet Airways planes, it dry leased 16 Boeing 737s planes and inducted five regional jets in the fleet in order to fill the capacity deficit.

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The airline further revealed the total number of planes being inducted in the immediate future as 27.

"We will induct as many as 27 planes in a record time of less than two weeks and are hopeful that these inductions will help considerably ease the pressure situation," SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh said in the release.

The new services will become operational between April 26 and May 2, it said.

SpiceJet operates 516 average daily flights to 60 destinations, including 51 domestic and nine international ones. The airline has a fleet of 48 Boeing 737, 27 Bombardier Q-400s and one B737 freighter.

(With PTI inputs)