Bombardier Breaks Into Indian Market with Q400s

Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet took delivery of its fourth Q400 NextGen on September 7 and planned to deploy it late last month along with three others it received starting in late August. A delay in clearance from the Reserve Bank of India forced a postponement of first deliveries from July to the last week of August.
“We decided to strategically focus on improving air connectivity in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns as we believe there is a large market in India that is yet to be touched by the benefits of the aviation revolution,” SpiceJet CEO Neil Mills told AIN. “We chose the Bombardier Q400 because it is the aircraft best suited to the available infrastructure in India. It can operate from small runways and will be the game-changing aircraft for the Indian aviation industry,” he said.
The deliveries to SpiceJet represent Bombardier’s first foray in the fast-growing Indian commercial aviation market, where rival ATR has already made significant inroads.
SpiceJet planned to launch the first phase of its regional connectivity strategy on September 21 with the 78-seat turboprops, connecting Hyderabad to Aurangabad, Bhopal, Indore, Mangalore, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Vijayawada.

SpiceJet also plans to add service within its existing destinations using the Q400 and will now operate direct flights from Hyderabad to Goa, Madurai, Nagpur and Pune and Bangalore to Vizag.
02/11/11 Anand Katti & Madhura Katti

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Categories: Foreign Oct 2011, spicejet Oct 2011