SpiceJet eyes foreign skies
Responding to the need for low-cost carriers flying more international routes, SpiceJet will begin long-haul flights soon, reveals Ajay Singh, Chairman, SpiceJet.
His effort in turning around the airline is acknowledged by everyone in the aviation industry, but Ajay Singh, India Travel Award winner, and Chairman, SpiceJet, is not resting on his laurels. He has plans to take the low-cost carrier on long-haul international routes soon. Speaking at the CAPA India Aviation Summit in Mumbai, he said, “Our longhaul operations will start relatively soon. There is this entire low-cost long haul market to look at and some of the airlines like Vistara and AirAsia will look to fly international. SpiceJet will certainly expand its international footprint. The new neo and MAX family of fuel-efficient aircrafts have more range and they open several new destinations in neighbouring countries which perhaps were not as accessible with the next generation singleaisle aircrafts. The narrow body aircraft that has come in will have larger range. So the way we define ‘long haul’ will start soon enough. When we will start with wide body aircraft is another issue.”
SpiceJet already flies to a few international destinations including Dubai and Singapore. Singh revealed that SpiceJet will look at the wide body as well as narrow body aircraft for this. “We need to look at the cost structures. We need to look at how the wide bodies will work with the new engines. So we are evaluating that. From our perspective, it’s the question of getting the lowest costs that we can manage. For this, we are talking to the manufacturers and trying to figure out what is the best option. All of us, including Vistara, IndiGo and SpiceJet, will need to look at what we do for our passengers on the long-haul sector,” Singh added.
The new neo and have more range, opening several new destinations in neighbouring countries