NE BUSINESS BUREAU
GURUGRAM, JULY 6
SpiceJet Airlines is operating 25 flights under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM). The airline will help bring back close to 4500 Indians stranded in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman under VBM.
The airline has operated six flights under VBM from Ras Al-Khaimah, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam so far bringing back over a thousand Indian nationals to Ahmedabad, Goa and Jaipur. The airline will operate another 19 flights this month from Ras Al-Khaimah, Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh and Muscat to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai, a release issued here on Monday said.
Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, “It is a matter of great honour for us at SpiceJet to be a part of this crucial mission of uniting our fellow Indian citizens with their families. The Vande Bharat Mission is really a laudable initiative by the Government of India. In addition to VBM, we have operated more than 200 charter flights to repatriate around 30,000 Indian nationals.”
“We have always been committed to providing our services during a crisis situation and helping our fellow citizens when they need it the most. There wasn’t a single day when SpiceJet did not operate during the nation-wide lockdown carrying thousands of tons of medicines and medical equipment and fruits and vegetables to all corners of India and the world.”
In addition to operating flights under the VBM, SpiceJet has operated over 200 charter flights from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Lebanon and Sri Lanka helping over 30,000 stranded Indian nationals fly back home.
SpiceJet has operated 3512 cargo flights since the lockdown began and carried around 20200 tons of cargo – this is more than double of all domestic airlines combined together. SpiceJet’s international cargo network now spans over 40 countries with the airline operating regular flights to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kabul, Kyrgyzstan, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Myanmar, Moscow, Shanghai, Singapore, Sharjah, Tashkent and a host of other places.
SpiceJet operated the country’s first cargo-on-seat flight on April 7 carrying vital supplies in passenger cabin & belly space. Since then, the airline has been regularly deploying its B737 and Q400 passenger aircraft to carry cargo in the passenger cabin, the release added.
