First Indian budget airline to operate a long-haul flight to North America
· Repatriates 352 Canadian nationals & permanent residents
· Charters wide-body A330 Neo aircraft from Hi Fly
GURUGRAM, NFAPost: Carrying on with its mission to help stranded passengers get back home, SpiceJet, India’s favourite airline and the largest air cargo operator, operated it’s first-ever long-haul wide-body charter flight to North America.
In a unique initiative, SpiceJet repatriated 352 Canadian nationals and permanent residency holders from New Delhi to Toronto today.
The flight departed from New Delhi at 8.10 am IST and is scheduled to reach Toronto at 6:40 pm (local time). The airline chartered a wide-body Airbus A330-900 Neo aircraft from Hi Fly for this flight. The twin-aisle A330 Neo aircraft has a configuration of 353 economy and 18 business class seats.
SpiceJet Commitment
Commenting on the company’s initiative, SpiceJet Chairman & Managing Director Ajay Singh said the first-ever long-haul charter flight to Canada is yet another example of SpiceJet commitment to helping as many people as the company can to get back home to their families in these troubled times.
“Being the first Indian budget airline to operate a non-stop long-haul flight to North America is a proud moment for the SpiceJet family,” SpiceJet Chairman & Managing Director Ajay Singh.
“We have operated flights across the globe repatriating close to 85,000 people and transporting over 28,000 tons of medical and essential supplies and we intend to keep on with our efforts,” said SpiceJet Chairman & Managing Director Ajay Singh.
On August 1, SpiceJet had repatriated 269 Indians who had been stranded in Amsterdam to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Vande Bharat flights
The airline has operated over 515 charter and Vande Bharat flights to help repatriate close to 85,000 stranded Indian citizens from countries such as Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Netherlands, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
SpiceJet is India’s favourite airline that has made flying affordable for more Indians than ever before. The airline has a fleet of 74 Boeing 737, 29 Bombardier Q-400s, eight B737 & Bombardier Q-400 freighters and is the country’s largest regional player operating 49 daily flights under UDAN or the Regional Connectivity Scheme. The majority of the airline’s fleet offers SpiceMax, the most spacious economy class seating in India.
The airline also operates a dedicated air cargo service under the brand name SpiceXpress offering safe, on-time, efficient and seamless cargo connectivity across India and on international routes.
Vande Bharat
The central government, under the leadership of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), started “Vande Bharat” evacuation mission to support Covid-19 pandemic impacted Indian citizens staying in many countries outside India. The phase one of the mission started on May 7 with the first flight to UAE. Now it has reached phase 5 with the participation of Air India and other leading private airlines helping the government initiative, making it the largest sustained operation for the repatriation of Indians stranded overseas.