SpiceJet to expand its Bombardier fleet, induct five more Q400s

Low-cost airline SpiceJet said on Tuesday it will add five 90-seater Q400 aircraft, taking its Bombardier fleet size to 32.

Three of these planes will join SpiceJet's fleet in the next 10 days while the remaining two will be inducted by June. The airline had last week announced the induction of 16 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on dry lease.

"The sudden reduction of aviation capacity should in no way hamper air connectivity to the smaller towns and cities of India," said company's Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh.

"As the country's largest regional operator, SpiceJet will make all possible efforts in this direction. As part of our efforts to augment capacity and minimise passenger inconvenience, the airline will induct five more Q400s in addition to the 16 B737s we announced last week," he said in a statement.

The 90-seater variant is part of SpiceJet's second purchase order for up to 50 Q400 turboprops placed in September 2017. This was the largest ever single order for the Q400 turboprop aircraft programme valued at 1.7 billion dollars.

The airline has already inducted five planes as part of this order. SpiceJet also operates a 78-seater variant of the same aircraft.

It recently launched 14 new flights under the government's UDAN, taking the total number of flights under the regional connectivity scheme to 33.

The airline operates 516 average daily flights to 60 destinations, including 51 domestic and 9 international ones. The airline has a fleet of 48 Boeing 737, 27 Bombardier Q-400s and one B737 freighter.

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