Reportedly budget carrier SpiceJet is all set to operate its maiden long-haul flight on august 1 after it got designated as a scheduled carrier to operate flights on select routes between india, the united states and the United Kingdom. According to a report published on livemint.com, SpiceJet will operate its first long-distance flight between Amsterdam, bengaluru and hyderabad on august 1-2. The same was confirmed by an airline spokesperson.
Meanwhile the report mentioned that the airline will use an Airbus A330-900neo aircraft for the long-distance flight operation. The Airbus A330-900neo can fly non-stop to europe and the United States. It may be noted that the budget carrier has never flown long-haul flights before and its narrow-body airlines operated in West Asia and South-East Asian countries, added the report. The designation as a scheduled carrier to US and UK is a major boost to SpiceJet, which became the first budget airline in india to operate long-haul flights.
While international flights to and from india had been suspended due to lockdowns in many parts of the world, air india was one of the first airlines to start operations and bring back indians stranded abroad. But now it seems that more indian private carriers may get an opportunity to operate long-haul flights if they can acquire wide-body aircraft.