Spicejet To Take You Places: New Routes Likely As Airline Looks To Add 20 Aircraft In 2019; Majority Boeing 737 Max

Budget airline, SpiceJet would introduce 20 more aircraft to its fleet in 2019 with the majority of them being Boeing 737 Max. The Boeing Max will allow the airline to fly to countries that are up to eight hours away from India, reports Financial Express.

“This opens up new markets in China and countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States,” Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director, SpiceJet, was quoted saying in the report.

According to the reports, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia would be its ninth international destination.

The low-cost airline added 12 new planes — nine Boeing 737 Max aircraft and three Q400s — taking the fleet size to 74 aircraft in the third quarter of the current financial year. In the first two quarters of FY19, the airline had added just one.

The report says that SpiceJet would accelerate its capacity growth to 20-25 per cent during Q4FY19 on the back of the Max addition.

“With all the additional aircraft being B-737 Max with 15-20 per cent greater fuel efficiency than existing aircraft, SJ (SpiceJet) will also start benefits of lower fuel costs,” brokerage firm Edelweiss was quoted saying by FE.