Four grounded aircraft to return to the fold: SpiceJet Chairman on airline anniversary

Budget airline SpiceJet will soon be reviving several of its grounded aircraft, chairman Ajay Singh said on Tuesday as the carrier marked its 18th anniversary.

Two Boeing 737s and two Bombardier Q400s are slated to return to service by 15 June and more aircraft will begin operations in the weeks that follow. The airline will use the USD 50 million it received in funds from the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), as well as from internal cash accruals, Singh added. SpiceJet is also planning to launch flights on new routes soon.

The ECLGS was launched in May 2020 as part of the Centre’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan to support eligible Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and business enterprises across all sectors of the economy. The scheme aids enterprises to meet their operational liabilities and restart operations following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the company’s logistics service, SpiceXpress is witnessing “large investor interest,” Singh said. “Leading UK-based international conglomerate SRAM and MRAM Group have already committed a USD 100 million investment in SpiceXpress.”

The airline has also announced ticket prices starting at Rs 1,818 along routes such as Bengaluru-Goa and Mumbai-Goa as it marks its 18th year of operations. Passengers will be able to avail these prices between 23 and 28 May.

By the end of June, the carrier intends to launch two international UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) flights along the Imphal-Mandalay and Agartala-Chattogram routes and relaunch several of its domestic UDAN flights.

SpiceJet operates about 250 daily flights to 48 destinations within India and to international destinations. Its fleet is a mix of aircraft including Boeing 737 Max, Boeing 700 and Q400s.