I PAD September 2019 1

SPECIAL REPORT
INTERNATIONAL SECTORS
SPICEJET SPREADS ITS
WINGS OVERSEAS
NEW FOREIGN DESTINATIONS, MORE FREQUENT FLIGHTS AND
SMOOTHER CONNECTIVITY FROM INDIAN METROS AND NON-METROS
HAVE ALL CONTRIBUTED TO A WIDER CHOICE FOR SPICEJET
PASSENGERS FLYING ABROAD
On August 15, 2019, when
the country celebrates
its 73rd Independence
Day, SpiceJet will
achieve one more
milestone — it will add Riyadh as its tenth
international destination. The capital of
Saudi Arabia is the fourth SpiceJet station
in the Middle East and will be serviced
from Mumbai.
Riyadh, the largest city of Saudi
Arabia, is also the kingdom’s key business
centre and financial hub. The city’s King
Khalid International Airport is one of the
largest airports in the world and serves
over 26 million passengers every year.
Riyadh becomes the second city in Saudi
Arabia, after Jeddah, to have convenient
SpiceJet connectivity. Jeddah is now
serviced from Mumbai, Hyderabad and
Kozhikode. Ajay Singh, Chairman and
Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, "We
are delighted to add Riyadh as our tenth
international destination. SpiceJet is the
only Indian budget airline to operate to
Saudi Arabia and our new flights to
Riyadh and Jeddah should greatly benefit
the thousands of pilgrims travelling from
India."
It has always been an ongoing
endeavour at SpiceJet to expand its
network and connect passengers through
new destinations and increased flights. It
has achieved these twin objectives by
constantly adding new planes. Last
month, the airline added the 100th
aircraft to its fleet. Expect this number to
grow by leaps and bounds soon for the
initial deliveries of the 205 Boeing 737
aircraft and up to 50 Q400 Bombardier
turboprop airliners ordered in 2017 have
started and more are fast on their way.
In addition to Riyadh and Jeddah in
Saudi Arabia, SpiceJet is flying to other
international destinations Hong Kong
(China), Bangkok (Thailand), Dhaka
(Bangladesh), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Male
Riyadh is SpiceJet's tenth
international destination
(Maldives), Dubai (UAE), Kabul
(Afghanistan) and Muscat (Oman). Apart
from these, a MoU for codeshare
partnership signed between SpiceJet and
Emirates on April 22, 2019 will allow
passengers to access networks of the two
airlines. With the new MoU in place,
SpiceJet passengers travelling from India
will have more choice to travel seamlessly
with minimum connection times, when
flying to destinations in Emirates' Europe
network such as London, Paris, Frankfurt,
Manchester and Amsterdam. Subject to
regulatory approvals, the codeshare
agreement will also open up flights for
Indian travellers to North and South
American destinations such as New York,
Washington, Toronto, and Sao Paulo as
well as Middle Eastern destinations such
as Jeddah, Kuwait and Amman, operated
by Emirates. Similarly, the partnership
will enable Emirates’ passengers to enjoy
seamless connectivity on India flights,
leveraging SpiceJet’s strong domestic
presence.
There has been hectic activity on
SpiceJet’s international network. Take
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SEPTEMBER 2019