NEW DELHI: SpiceJet has for the first time started scheduled flights to Europe, after operating several medium to long-haul charters during Covid. The budget carrier will fly its Boeing 737 Max twice a week between Amritsar and Rome Fiumicino; and thrice weekly between Amritsar and Milan Bergamo, said an airline official. These flights will take a 40-minute technical halt in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi where the operating crew — both pilots and cabin crew — will change both on the way out of India and back home.
“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) from Wednesday. This is the first time we will be operating regular scheduled flights to Europe,” said a SpiceJet official.
The airline had on Wednesday tweeted: “Captured a wonderful moment when India and Italy were on the way to create a new journey. It was a great honour and a pleasure to meet the ambassador of Italy Vincenzo De Luca.”
SpiceJet expects to get an additional Rs 1,000 crore loan under the government’s amended emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) for airlines. GoAir and SpiceJet are learnt to have applied for loans from the modified ECLGS. A SpiceJet official had last month said this loan will “rejuvenate (the airline); help clear all statutory dues; induct new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and settle the survivability debate once and for all.”
