The budget airline SpiceJet is adding 100th aircraft to its fleet, making it the fourth airline to do so after Air India, IndiGo, and the now-defunct Jet Airways. According to a media release from the airline, SpiceJet has added 23 airlines in the last month.
Who could have thought that from the brink of closure in December 2014, SpiceJet would have a 100-aircraft fleet in 2019, SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said on the induction of 100th plane in the fleet.
Nowhere in the world has an airline expanded at this pace, increased capacity and added new stations and flights as SpiceJet has done in the last one month, Singh said in an email written to employees on the 14th anniversary of the airline.
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SpiceJet now has a 68 Boeing 737s, 30 Bombardier Q-400s and two B737 freighters in its fleet. The airline provides services to 62 destinations, among which nine are international, and the remaining 53 are domestic services. It operates an average of 575 daily flights. SpiceJet added several new additional services in the last month, primarily connecting the metros such as Mumbai and Delhi. SpiceJet is a significant player in Government’s UDAN initiative, providing connectivity to non-metro regions of the country.
According to records, SpiceJet had placed an order for 205 aircraft with Boeing in 2015, a deal valued at $22 billion. This was later followed it up with a $1.7 billion order for 50 Bombardier Q400 planes.
Considering its competitors, GoAir has 49 aircraft, Air India Express has 25 planes, Vistara has 22, and AirAsia India has 21 planes in their fleet. Alliance Air, the regional subsidiary of Air India, has 20 ATRs for operations. The other major players, IndiGo has 230, and Air India has 128 planes in the fleet.
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