SpiceJet will resume its Mangaluru-Delhi direct flights from August 4, 2019. The flight will leave Mangaluru International Airport at 6.15 am and arrive in Delhi at 8.55 am. On its return journey, it will leave New Delhi at 8.30 pm and will arrive at 11.15 pm.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet captured its highest domestic market share in five years at 15.6% this June. IndiGo continued to maintain its top market share by occupying a 48% share of the domestic aviation. Air India declared a market share of 12.9%, GoAir occupied 11.1%, Air Asia made 6.4%, and Vistara held another 5.4%.
The budget airline SpiceJet inducted 30 aircraft from the suspended Jet Airways, mostly Boeing 737s. ’Spicejet’s fleet size now stands at 95. Speaking at the 12th International Conference-cum-Awards on Civil Aviation & Cargo by FICCI, Ajay Singh, Chairman of Spicejet, blamed government’s taxation policy towards his industry.
“There is no country in the world which taxes aviation fuel as we do, we pay 35% tax on average on aviation fuel, this needs to be addressed urgently,” Singh said.
“We need to celebrate the fact that despite the failure of Jet Airways, the speed at which India recovered and got capacity back and got fares back to a normal level, is a great testament to the way India and government work together to make that happen…At the same time, I think, this is a time for sombre reflection, the failure of Jet Airways and the condition of Air India, I think must give us pause,” he added.
India witnessed growth in domestic passenger traffic by 6.1% year-on-year. A total of 12.02 million passengers booked for air travel in June, as against 11.32 million in June 2018. Domestic passenger growth has been 3.2% year on year for the first half of 2019 due to higher fares and grounding of Jet Airways. The Civil Aviation Ministry has allocated Jet’s vacant airport slots to rival carriers for operations.