SpiceJet has launched scheduled flights to Europe for the first time, becoming the third Indian carrier to serve the European market after Air India and Vistara. SpiceJet intends to fly its Boeing 737 MAX twice weekly between Amritsar and Rome Fiumicino and thrice weekly between Amritsar and Milan Bergamo starting November 2022.
These flights will take a 40-minute technical halt in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi where the operating crew will change both on the way out of India and back home.
With this expansion, Amritsar becomes the only Tier-II city in India to have direct connectivity with over four destinations in Europe, including, London and Birmingham in the UK and Rome and Milan in Italy.
A SpiceJet official commented: “We used to operate a lot of charters to North America and Europe during Covid. There is a significant demand to travel on some of those routes on which we used to operate charters. Hence, we have started scheduled Italy flights (with a technical halt for fuelling and crew change). This is the first time we will be operating regularly scheduled flights to Europe.”
SpiceJet expects to get an additional INR 1,000 crore loan under the government’s amended emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) for airlines. This loan will help the airline clear all dues and induct new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as a part of its fleet modernisation.
