SpiceJet announces 10 Madhya Pradesh flights; aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia flags off Gwalior-Pune launch route

SpiceJet on July 16 said it has started operating eight new flights connecting Madhya Pradesh with Maharashtra and Gujarat. The airline is also starting its second frequency on the Delhi-Jabalpur-Delhi sector from today.

The new flights are seen as a major boost to the central government’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme which aims to enhance air connectivity to remote areas and make such travel more affordable.

New Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is from Madhya Pradesh, had earlier this week announced that SpiceJet will start operations on new routes such as Gwalior-Ahmedabad-Gwalior, Gwalior-Mumbai-Gwalior, Gwalior-Pune-Gwalior, and Jabalpur-Surat-Jabalpur.

Scindia issued the orders for eight new flights for Madhya Pradesh the day he took charge of the Ministry of Civil Aviation on June 11. The aviation minister today flagged off the first of these flights.

The Centre said earlier this year that it plans to operationalise 100 unserved and underserved airports and start at least 1,000 air routes under the Udan scheme.

The budget airline had last week announced the launch of 42 new flights across its domestic and international networks, which will commence operations from July 10.

The new launches come at a time domestic and international travel demand is seen rising as customers are looking to travel after restrictions on movement were eased after the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19.

Travel agents have seen a rise in bookings for both domestic and international flights in July and August as customers are looking to travel before the country experiences the third wave of COVID-19, which experts predict is likely in August or September.