SpiceJet rejigs operations, to discontinue some flights

Reeling under heavy losses and facing a funding crunch, budget carrier SpiceJet on Thursday said it will discontinue flights on three domestic and a couple of international destinations from the upcoming summer schedule as part of its network rejig exercise.

The Delhi-based private airline's summer schedule in India begins from March 29 and lasts up to October 28.

SpiceJet will be discontinuing its Pune-Bangkok, Varanasi-Sharjah and Delhi-Guangzhou flights, an airline release said here without indicating any timeline.

However, Sharjah will continue to be served from Pune and Lucknow, while Bangkok from Bangalore, it said, adding that Guangzhou will be served from Kolkata along with Hong Kong.

Besides, flight services to domestic destinations like Puducherry, Trichy and Allahabad are also being taken-off the network, it said.

The revised schedule will fully deploy SpiceJet's fleet of 42 Boeing and 15 Q400 aircraft, and will result in further growth for the airline, the release said.

Additionally, new cities will be added in the network once the airline's interline agreement with Tiger Airways gets operational, it said.

The Kalanithi Maran-owned carrier had late last year signed an interline agreement with Singapore-based budget carrier Tiger.

Under the agreement, SpiceJet and Tiger will be able to seamlessly transfer their passengers between India and Singapore via the Hyderabad airport. An interline agreement helps airlines sell tickets of partner airlines.

As part of its enhanced focus on premium customers, SpiceJet will be reconfiguring its Boeing 737 aircraft to offer five rows of seats with enhanced legroom and value-added services, the release said.