India’s most aggressive low-cost airline SpiceJet announced new flights connecting Hyderabad to Colombo, Chennai with Patna and Surat, as well as six new flights under the UDAN scheme.
It has introduced direct flights on the Hyderabad-Colombo-Hyderabad route with effect from April 15.
SpiceJet is the first Indian budget carrier to service the route and will operate on all days except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
It also announced four new daily direct flights connecting Chennai with Patna and Surat, making it the first airline in India to operate flights on the Chennai-Patna-Chennai sector.
It also announced six new flights under the UDAN scheme.
These are on the Kishangarh-Ahmedabad-Kishangarh, Lakhimpur-Guwahati-Lakhimpur and Jaipur-Amritsar-Jaipur sectors, which were awarded to the airline under the third round of the Regional Connectivity Scheme.
SpiceJet said it will be the first and only Indian airline to operate flights between Kishangarh-Ahmedabad-Kishangarh and Jaipur-Amritsar-Jaipur.
The airline will operate daily flights between Guwahati-Lakhimpur-Guwahati and Jaipur-Amritsar-Jaipur while flights between Ahmedabad and Kishangarh will be operational on all days of the week except Sundays.
SpiceJet sees huge demand to and from Kishangarh and Lakhimpur and has hence augmented connectivity from these cities, it said. Currently, the airline flies to Delhi and Kolkata from Kishangarh and Lakhimpur respectively.
All new domestic flights will start on 31 March.
With the launch of its services between Hyderabad and Colombo, SpiceJet will connect the Sri Lankan capital with three direct flights from India.
The airline currently connects the city with single daily frequencies from Chennai and Madurai each.
Most of the tourists from India visit Sri Lanka to explore its pristine beaches alongside the 1,600 km of palm fringed coastline and rich culture.
Tickets on the Hyderabad-Colombo sector starts at Rs 6,499, while the return costs Rs 7,599. Chennai-Patna tickets will cost Rs 3,973 and return tickets will cost Rs 2,599.
The airline will be deploying its Bombardier Q-400 aircraft on the UDAN routes while the international sector and the regular domestic routes will be served using its fleet of Boeing 737-800.
At present, SpiceJet operates 23 flights under UDAN on the routes.