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Spreading wings
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New Delhi, Oct. 31: India’s second largest low-cost carrier SpiceJet plans to expand its domestic and international footprints by acquiring aircraft and increasing the number of flights to overseas destinations.
The Chennai-based budget carrier is eyeing a 15-20 per cent capacity addition on the international network in the next two to three years.
“We are looking at a 15-20 per cent capacity addition on global network over the next two to three years from the current 6 per cent of the total capacity. Domestic routes will also continue to grow mainly in the regional markets,” airline chief executive Neil Mills said.
The airline had not decided about the type of aircraft — Boeing, Airbus or both — that it planned to acquire.
Mills had earlier said it would be starting flights to Kabul, Riyadh, China, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Male in Maldives.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), the international aviation body, in its recent report had stated that SpiceJet was evaluating the purchase of around 40 Boeing MAX aircraft.
At present, the low-cost carrier has a mix of Boeing 737s (36) and Bombardier Q400s (12) in its fleet of 48 planes.
According to the airline’s officials, it will add three Bombardiers by December, one of which will fly on the proposed Thiruvananthapuram-Male route.
Mills said the company would launch services to Guangzhou and Riyadh from New Delhi, and Male in Maldives from Thiruvananthapuram by the end of this year.
“These destinations, like India, have a lot of bureaucratic hurdles which are almost over now. So by December we should be starting the operations there,” he said.
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