SpiceJet promises more India-Dubai flights

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Sunday said it would operate more flights between Dubai and various Indian cities.

Celebrating the United Arab Emirates' 44th National Day, the Indian carrier also announced special one-way ticket offers for its flights from Dubai, starting from a base fare of AED 244 (around Rs4,400).

The airline would enhance its connectivity from Dubai to a number of Indian cities by increasing frequencies on multiple routes, SpiceJet said in a statement.

"Dubai is SpiceJet's key international market. We will continue to increase our presence here. Our customers can expect many more flights and many more exciting offers in the coming months," the carrier's chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said.

Meanwhile, the sale of special fare tickets would be open till 3 December. The travel period covered in this sale is from 1 February to 20 October 2016.

The special fare would be for travel from Dubai to Mumbai, Kochi and Kozhikode. While base fares starting from AED 344 (around Rs6,250) would be offered for travel from Dubai to Delhi, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Madurai and Pune. Statutory taxes would be as applicable.

SpiceJet operates 291 daily flights to 40 destinations, including 34 domestic and six overseas.

Meanwhile, reports in Dubai quoting SpiceJet chairman said news of stake sale of budget airline SpiceJet is back after the management changed hands, and that some airlines from the Gulf region have evinced interest in the company. However, he said categorically said there are no such plans as of now.

 ''Some of the Gulf airlines have expressed an interest in SpiceJet as we have come back into the market, but this is not the right time to be diluting the equity... There is some dialogue which is ongoing and we continue to explore other types of relationships we could have,'' Chairman Ajay Singh has been quoted as saying in a report in Bloomberg.