SpiceJet adds 22 special flights for Durga Puja; Kolkata, Bagdogra get more connections

New business data points to the fact that SpiceJet will operate 22 special flights from October 10 to add capacity to Kolkata and Bagdogra during the Durga Puja travel period, the airline stated on September 25.

The additional services will connect Kolkata with Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Bagdogra and Port Blair. Bagdogra will get additional connections to Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata, according to the airline.

The move adds seats on routes linking eastern India with major metros during the festive travel season.

SpiceJet will additionally offer a Mumbai-Port Blair connection via Kolkata without requiring passengers to change aircraft. Under the schedule released by the airline, flight SG 0134 will operate from Mumbai to Kolkata and then onward to Port Blair, while SG 0135 will operate the return service through Kolkata.

The airline has scheduled additional Delhi-Kolkata, Kolkata-Delhi, Mumbai-Kolkata, Kolkata-Mumbai, Kolkata-Bengaluru and Bengaluru-Kolkata services.

Bagdogra will be connected through additional flights to and from Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The schedule includes Delhi-Bagdogra and Bagdogra-Delhi services, as well as Bengaluru-Bagdogra and Bagdogra-Bengaluru flights.

“Durga Puja is one of the most important times of the year for Kolkata, when the city comes alive and families travel from across the country to be together,” SpiceJet Chief Business Officer Debojo Maharshi stated.

Maharshi stated the additional flights were intended to give passengers more options to travel to Kolkata and Bagdogra during the festive season.

Part of wider winter capacity expansion

The announcement comes weeks after SpiceJet outlined a broader capacity expansion for the winter travel season.

On September 3, the airline stated it had finalised lease agreements for 20 aircraft, comprising 15 Boeing and five Airbus planes, which are scheduled to be inducted in phases between mid-October and mid-November. SpiceJet stated at the time that it scheduled to scale up to around 200 daily flights during the winter schedule.

The aircraft are being brought in under wet- and damp-lease arrangements, allowing the carrier to add capacity without immediately adding owned aircraft to its fleet. The scheduled inductions include Airbus A321 aircraft alongside Boeing planes.

The Durga Puja services begin before the bulk of those scheduled aircraft inductions, which SpiceJet has stated will start from mid-October.

SpiceJet under regulatory monitoring

The network expansion additionally comes as the airline stays under closer government scrutiny.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu stated on September 22 that the government was monitoring SpiceJet's operations and finances through the aviation regulator to ensure that safety was not compromised. Reuters noted that the scrutiny followed the airline's prolonged cash-flow difficulties, which have additionally been affected by the conflict in the Middle East.

Naidu stated the government had limits on its intervention in privately run firms but noted that SpiceJet had received Rs 150 crore under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.

SpiceJet's latest published schedule reveals services on several of the routes covered by the festive expansion, including Kolkata-Bengaluru flights beginning October 10.