Spicejet Adds More International Flights

Spicejet, a low cost carrier (LCC) from India, has recently got the approval from the government to fly cheap international flights to the six more destinations. After JetKonnect and Indigo Airlines, Spicejet is the next major LCC which currently operates the flights to 35 domestic and only 2 international destinations. Whereas Indigo operates flights to 28 domestic and 5 international destinations, JetKonnect flies to 56 domestic and 1 international destinations. With the addition of 6 more overseas destinations, SpiceJet would be able to have more international destinations to its kitty as compared with the other competitor LCCs.

The six destinations which have been added are: Male in Maldives, Kabul in Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Guangzhou in China, Dubai in United Arab Emirates and Bangkok in Thailand. All of these destinations are much sought after by the Indian people and have a good demand. The addition of these 6 with the existing 2 of Colombo and Kathmandu will make it the only LCC to have 8 overseas destinations. Spicejet booking can now be done on any of the 63 newly added overseas flights operating in a week, instead of only 14 per week.

Adding these new routes, despite the loss burden of over Rs 1000 crores, is expected to help Spicejet in a number of ways. SpiceJet will be able to increase the aircraft utilization time, which currently stands at 12 hours a day. The increase in utilization will bring it more revenue and profits. The second advantage is that it will be able to deploy the new aircraft, which it is going to acquire soon, on these routes. However, by far, the most important advantage will be that it will be able to generate more revenues by taking advantage of the increasing traffic to these destinations. Instead of focusing solely on price-sensitive and fast maturing Indian market, a combination of domestic and cheap international flights will hedge the risks better and also help it in making more profits.