SpiceJet to take on AI, Jet with international operations

New Delhi: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet will launch its international operations in June with flights to Kathmandu, Colombo and Dhaka, a move that
could spark off a fare war in these lucrative sectors. The Delhi-based airline will take on full-service carriers Air India and Jet Airways along and the latter’s no-frills subsidiary JetLite that operates to these destinations.
“It would be truly low-cost,” said a SpiceJet executive, while refusing to get into specifics. “The airline would serve its foreign network with its current fleet of B737s,” he said, requesting anonymity. Currently a return ticket on most of these flights costs upwards of Rs 12,000, but SpiceJet’s entry could be a game changer.
India receives nearly 15% of its about 5.4 million foreign tourists from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A good number of people from Nepal come to India for work. Increasing trade ties between the Saarc countries in recent years have seen a spurt in business travel as well. “Air traffic in these routes have been growing at 13-14%,” Amadeus India managing director Ankur Bhatia said.
11/03/10 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2010, Jet Airways Mar 2010, NACIL Mar 2010, spicejet Mar 2010