SpiceJet announces new flights with focus on regional connectivity scheme

SpiceJet Sunday announced that it has launched 14 new flights under the government's UDAN scheme, connecting the "un-served" market of Jharsuguda and the "underserved" markets of Kishangarh and Lakhimpur to key metros and cities across the country. In addition, the airline stated that it has launched 14 other direct flights connecting metros and non-metros on domestic routes.

"Reaffirming the airline's conviction on the Regional Connectivity Scheme, SpiceJet has started operating on the new UDAN routes of Kishangarh-Ahmedabad-Kishangarh, Lakhimpur-Guwahati-Lakhimpur, Jaipur-Amritsar-Jaipur, Delhi-Jharsuguda-Delhi, Hyderabad-Jharsuguda-Hyderabad, Kolkata-Jharsuguda-Kolkata and Bhopal-Udaipur-Bhopal from March 31," the airline said in its statement.

UDAN was launched by the central government in 2016 to provide regional air connectivity to unserved and underserved airports across the country at an affordable fare.

SpiceJet said it is further enhancing its domestic footprint with direct flights on the Mumbai-Bhopal-Mumbai, Mumbai-Gorakhpur-Mumbai, Chennai-Patna-Chennai, Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi (two new flights), Jaipur-Dharamshala-Jaipur and Surat-Bhopal-Surat sectors. Flights on all the routes will be operated daily except on the Ahmedabad-Kishangarh sector. The evening flight on the Delhi-Bhopal route will fly on all days except Sunday, the airline said.

Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet said, "With the addition of 14 new UDAN flights, SpiceJet will operate a total of 33 daily flights under the regional connectivity scheme."