The Hindu Business Line : SpiceJet connects Ahmedabad to Mumbai

Ahmedabad, Dec. 15 Low-cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet today launched its new connections from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, while it would connect the city to Kolkata, Jaipur, Goa and Chennai from December 18.

Announcing this at a press conference here, Mr Sanjay Aggarwal, who took over as the new CEO of SpiceJet Ltd, said with the acquisition of a new aircraft this month, the company would have its 19th plane. It currently has 18 Boeing 737-800/737-900 ER aircraft, with an average age of two years, which link 18 destinations through 105 flights with a total seat capacity of 20,420 per day.

The three-year-old airline had started its first flight from Ahmedabad to New Delhi in 2005. Replying to questions, Mr Aggarwal said with many companies encouraging their employees to fly low-cost following the current economic turmoil, the LCC business model is expected to yield better results. With the falling crude prices and other measures, air fares are likely to reduce soon.

These could lead SpiceJet to introduce more flights and destinations. The total cost of flight operation has come down by 13 per cent due to the recent fall in oil prices which may further induce demand, he added.

Until last year, the aviation sector registered an average 30 growth per annum during the last few years but it has come down to 15 last month. The latest offering from SpiceJet, he said, was the launch of SpiceExpress service in which the airline delivers tickets at the travellers’ doorsteps across 49 cities in India at a cost of Rs 119 per passenger.

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