SpiceJet commences Q400 operations from Kolkata

SpiceJet, the second largest low-cost carrier of India has commenced turbo-prop operations from Kolkata. The Eastern metropolitan city becomes fourth base for the LCC's Bombardier Q400 fleet following Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad. As many as three such aircraft are being stationed in Kolkata which will initially operate to six routes from the city. The airline is adding three new destinations Aizawl, Gorakhpur and Silchar from 4 October 2016 taking the network size to 39 cities in India. While Aizawl, Gorakhpur and Vizag would be complete new route for SpiceJet from Kolkata, Bagdogra and Guwahati are two routes where it already run flights with mainline jets. With these SpiceJet is scaling up its network in Northeast India where its presence was so far limited to Agartala, Bagdogra and Guwahati. The flights to Aizawal and Silchar will further continue up to Guwahati before heading back to Kolkata via those airports therefore adding new CAT-II and CAT-IIA capacity. This is in line with the Government of India's policy of promoting regional connectivity. 

Among the new routes Gorakhpur is a virgin route which sees no scheduled flight from Kolkata. The same flight goes up to Delhi from Gorakhpur opening another new route for the LCC. There was no non-stop flight on the Kolkata-Vizag route until mid August when IndiGo had introduced the first non-stop flight and now it will have two daily flights by two LCC from early November. On Bagdogra-Kolkata route SpiceJet has scheduled temporary flight for just three days (1-3 October, before the start of full-scale operations to AJL, GOP and IXS) and it is scheduled to add regular second daily flight from early November. On the Kolkata-Guwahati where the carrier already operates one daily flight with mainline jet, has added two more daily flights from 1 October on Q400 but one of which is only available till 29 October 2016. SpiceJet has also added fourth daily Boeing 737-NG flight on the Delhi-Kolkata route between 1 to 15 October to cash on the festive rush to Kolkata during Durga Puja, largest festival in Eastern India.

Not just on domestic routes the airline plans to operate its Q400 fleet to short-haul international routes from Kolkata as well. Dhaka and Chittagong in the neighboring Bangladesh have been finalised with service expected to start from December this year. Yangon in Myanmar could well be the third in this series but is still in the planning stage. Though Dhaka and Chittagong are good choice but those are already well served routes in fact Dhaka is Kolkata's second busiest international route with 2,03,171 O&D passengers in H1 2016. However Sylhet (IATA: ZYL) in the Northeastern Bangladesh (close to Silchar) could rather be a smart choice for Q400 flight from Kolkata. As the route holds good potential yet remains underserved. SpiceJet already operates turbo-prop aircraft on two of its international sectors Kochi-Male and Chennai-Colombo. The airline has also planned to add second daily Kolkata-Bangkok flight from November however booking for the same has not been opened yet.

SpiceJet's Kolkata-Gorakhpur schedule:

Flight No.	Origin: Departure	Destination: Arrival	Effective
SG 3271	Kolkata: 11:40	Gorakhpur: 13:30	4 Oct 2016
SG 3272	Gorakhpur: 14:40	Kolkata: 16:15	4 Oct 2016

SpiceJet's Kolkata-Silchar schedule:

Flight No.	Origin: Departure	Destination: Arrival	Effective
SG 3213	Kolkata: 05:00	Silchar: 06:20	4 Oct 2016
SG 3214	Silchar: 08:45	Kolkata: 10:10	4 Oct 2016

SpiceJet's Kolkata-Aizawl schedule:

Flight No.	Origin: Departure	Destination: Arrival	Effective
SG 3281	Kokata: 11:05	Aizawl: 12:10	4 Oct 2016
SG 3282	Aizawl: 15:15	Kolkata: 16:25	4 Oct 2016

SpiceJet's Kolkata-Guwahati schedule:

Flight No.	Origin: Departure	Destination: Arrival	Effective
SG 3216	Kolkata: 18:15	Guwahati: 19:55	1 Oct 2016
SG 3291	Kolkata: 06:05	Guwahati: 07:35	1-29 Oct 2016
SG 3217	Guwahati: 20:20	Kolkata: 21:45	1 Oct 2016
SG 3292	Guwahati 07:55	Kolkata: 09:25	1-29 Oct 2016

SpiceJet's Kolkata-Bagdogra schedule:

Flight No.	Origin: Departure	Destination: Arrival	Effective
SG 3287	Kolkata: 15:30	Bagdogra: 16:45	1 Nov 2016
SG 3288	Bagdogra: 17:15	Kolkata: 18:30	1 Nov 2016

SpiceJet's Kolkata-Visakhapatnam (Vizag) schedule:

Flight No.	Origin: Departure	Destination: Arrival	Effective
SG 3291	Kolkata: 19:00	Vizag: 20:50	1 Nov 2016
SG 3292	Vizag: 21:30	Kolkata: 23:20	1 Nov 2016