Heena Sharma Blog

  SpiceJet said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with the GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) to ensure seamless delivery of the coronavirus vaccine from the Hyderabad airport to domestic and international markets. Hyderabad and its surrounding districts have a number of pharmaceutical companies. The Hyderabad airport, which is managed and operated by the GMR group, is expected to be a key hub in transportation of COVID-19 vaccine domestically and globally. In a press release, SpiceJet said as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the GHAC will provide required space at the Hyderabad airport "on priority" for the airline's vaccine shipments and it will also train the airline's personnel. "SpiceJet on its part will keep a dedicated fleet of freighters, including wide-body aircraft, at the Hyderabad airport to handle all domestic and international consignments," the release added. Read More  

  SpiceJet on Monday said it will soon induct its first Airbus A340 cargo aircraft in its freighters fleet. The induction of the first wide-body freighter will help the airline to primarily operate cargo flights on long-haul routes including to destinations in Europe, CIS and African region, SpiceJet said in a release. With the latest induction, SpiceJet will have a dedicated fleet of nine freighter aircraft consisting of five Boeing 737s, three Bombardier Q-400s and one Airbus A340. "The induction of our first wide-body cargo aircraft will be a huge game changer in our journey as the country's largest cargo operator," SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said. He said the airline very soon will be operating non-stop cargo services across the globe to destinations in Europe, Africa and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries which till a few months back would have been unthinkable. Read More  

Low cost airline SpiceJet has told its pilots that most of them will not get paid for the months of April and May. The airline instead will roster its pilots in a way that most get chances to operate the company's cargo aircraft in order to get minimal pay. Pilots who are operating cargo aircraft are getting paid according to the hours they fly. SpiceJet has five freighter aircraft which are ferrying cargo like medical and food supplies within India and abroad. Additionally, it has also deployed passenger aircraft Boeing 737 and Q400 for carrying cargo. “We will not be getting any salary for April and May 2020. Over the coming weeks we intend to increase the number of aircraft carrying cargo. Our rostering team will ensure that all of us get to fly the aircraft. Flying will be limited but it will ensure that all our training requirements are current and skills stay intact,” Gurcharan Arora, the airline’s Chief of flight Operations said in a message to the pilots. Read More

SpiceJet has initiated a 10-30 per cent pay cut for all its employees across top and mid-rung levels due to the impact of Covid-19 on its operations, the airline said on Tuesday. The airline’s Chairman and Managing Director, Ajay Singh, has also opted for a 30 per cent cut in his March salary. In FY 18-19, Singh took home Rs 7.2 crore as salary benefits. Unfortunately, due to the lockdown, SpiceJet has been forced to announce ‘leave without pay’ for employees during 25 March - 31 March," the airline told its employees. "However, employees who have been actively working during this period will not be affected by the ‘leave without pay’ and their salaries for this period will be reimbursed," it added. Read More

Budget carrier SpiceJet has decided to cut 10-30 per cent salary of all its employees in March, with Chairman Ajay Singh opting for highest 30 per cent trimming in compensation, the airline said in an e-mail communication to the staff on Tuesday. "SpiceJet management has decided to implement a pay cut between 10-30 per cent in March across our employee base. Our Chairman and Managing Director (Ajay singh), in fact, has opted for the highest cut of 30 per cent in compensation," the airline said in the communication. Other budget carriers IndiGo and GoAir have already announced similar move earlier. "These are extremely tough time and call for appropriate and exceptional measures to sale through the exceptional challenge," it said. Read More

No-frills carrier SpiceJet on Wednesday said it will launch 20 new flights on its domestic routes, including some services under the government's regional connectivity scheme, Udan, from late next month as part of the airline's summer schedule. The new flights, starting from March 29, include services to Patna from Amritsar, Varanasi and Guwahati. Besides, it will also launch flights on Hyderabad-Mangaluru, Bengaluru-Jabalpur and Mumbai-Aurangabad routes, all under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), for the first time on its network, the airline said in a release. The new services will fly daily and will be operated by a mix of Boeing 737-800 and Bombardier Q400 aircraft, it stated. These services will enhance connectivity between key metros and smaller cities, it said. With the commencement of these new flights, the airline will have a total of 52 flights connecting 12 cities under the RCS scheme, SpiceJet said. Read More

SpiceJet on Monday said it is offering "hundreds" of "free" tickets, where the base fare will be waived but taxes and other surcharges have to be paid, to select people who want to fly to Delhi to vote in the upcoming assembly elections on February 8. The budget carrier clarified that the participants, who will be selected by the airline's internal panel after their online registration, will have to bear all applicable taxes, surcharges, levies and any other additional costs incurred on the air tickets. In this "SpiceDemocracy" initiative, the airline stated that if the departure to Delhi and return from the city is on February 8, it will refund the entire base fare on both tickets. Alternatively, flyers will be offered a one-way ticket, with the base fare waived off, if they plan to fly on February 7 and return on February 8 or fly on February 8 and return on February 9. The online registration for this initiative will remain open from ...

SpiceJet on Wednesday suspended stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from flying with it after he allegedly heckled journalist Arnab Goswami aboard an IndiGo Mumbai-Lucknow flight. SpiceJet is the third airline to take action against Kamra. While IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with it for a period of six months on Tuesday itself, Air India banned him until further notice. Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had taken note of the incident on Tuesday and "advised" other airlines in India to impose similar restrictions on Kamra, stating "offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers". On Wednesday morning, SpiceJet said on Twitter, "SpiceJet has decided to suspend Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with the airline till further notice." An AirAsia India official told PTI that the airline is waiting for the aviation regulator DGCA to issue a formal n...

Airlines in Brazil, Singapore, China and Indonesia have grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing 157 passengers and crew members on board Sunday. This happened months after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia killing 189. Indian carriers Jet Airways and Spicejet own 5 and 13 models of the aircraft respectively, according to an earlier Business Standard report. The former has ordered another 225 and the latter 155. According to a New York Times report, at least 18 airlines around the world have grounded their 737 MAX 8 planes. "But at least 18 carriers, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, which are heavy users of the MAX 8, continued to fly them on Monday." The Boeing website shows a list of not less than 60 airlines that use the model. Ryanair, Air Europa, Air Canada, Qatar Airways are some of the big names among them. Jet Airways said Tuesday morning that it is not currently operat...