Slots held by Jet Airways at Mumbai have been temporarily re-distributed among other airlines. Vistara and AirAsia India were the first to add flights. SpiceJet was next, adding a handful of flights since they are currently dealing with MAX groundings. Next, IndiGo announced additional flights from Mumbai Terminal 2.

IndiGo further expanded their presence at Mumbai’s & Delhi’s Terminal 2 by adding 18 more domestic flights temporarily. SpiceJet launched additional flights from Mumbai and Delhi’s Terminal 2, as they are taking delivery of 22 Jet Airways 737s. GoAir also finally added a slew of new routes from Mumbai and Delhi Terminal 2 using a few temporary slots.

Around five ex-Jet Airways’ 737s are already flying in a hybrid livery. SpiceJet is looking at the possibility to induct up to 40 Jet Airways aircraft to expand significantly from Mumbai and Delhi. They are not reconfiguring the aircraft. So, SpiceJet is currently selling business class seats on the ex-Jet Airways 737s as SpiceMax.

So you can grab one of the SpiceJet business class seats on select routes for less than INR 1000. SpiceJet is planning to offer a proper business class, SpiceBiz, with added amenities. As SpiceJet is inducting more aircraft, they have announced some more new routes out of Mumbai Terminal 2.

From May 4, 2019, SpiceJet will add,

Mumbai – Srinagar – Jammu – Mumbai

SG6280 BOM0515 – 0810SXR 737 D
SG6380 SXR0850 – 0920IXJ 737 D
SG6381 IXJ0950 – 1245BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Madurai

SG6378 BOM1325 – 1520IXM 737 D
SG6379 IXM1550 – 1815BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Coimbatore

SG6245 BOM1910 – 2105CJB 737 D
SG6248 CJB2135 – 0015(+1 day)BOM 737 D

From May 8, 2019, SpiceJet will add,

Mumbai – Chennai

SG6287 BOM0015 – 0215MAA 737 D
SG6289 MAA0645 – 0845BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Dehradun

SG6289 BOM0925 – 1120DED 737 D
SG6290 DED1200 – 1430BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Kochi

SG6282 BOM1510 – 1705COK 737 x2
SG6283 COK1735 – 1940BOM 737 x2

Mumbai – Delhi

SG6902 BOM2020 – 2210DEL 737 D
SG8723 DEL0830 – 1035BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Guwahati

SG6265 BOM1115 – 1425GAU 737 D
SG6266 GAU1455 – 1805BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Jaipur

SG6236 BOM1845 – 2025JAI 737 D
SG6237 JAI2055 – 2310BOM 737 D

From May 11, 2019, SpiceJet will add,

Mumbai – Bengaluru

SG6352 BOM2000 – 2135BLR 737 D
SG6351 BLR0515 – 0710BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Gorakhpur

SG6351 BOM0750 – 1010GOP 737 D
SG6353 GOP1045 – 1305BOM 737 D

Mumbai – Chennai

SG6354 BOM1355 – 1550MAA 737 D
SG6355 MAA1720 – 1915BOM 737 D

Delhi – Vishakhapatnam

SG8903 DEL0910 – 1125VTZ 737 D
SG8904 VTZ1155 – 1415DEL 737 D

Delhi – Srinagar

SG8955 DEL1510 – 1640SXR 737 D
SG8956 SXR1720 – 1850DEL 737 D

Delhi – Kochi

SG8952 DEL1930 – 2240COK 737 D
SG8951 COK0530 – 0830DEL 737 D

The following route additions will require 5 737NG aircraft. This round of routes addition completes SpiceJet’s planned expansion using 22 Jet Airways 737s. The earlier expansion utilised 4 737NG aircraft and the rest 13 737NGs are meant to compensate for groundings of 13 737 MAX.

SpiceJet added a single Mumbai – Jaipur and Mumbai – Coimbatore morning flight in the previous route additions, and now with this new evening flight, SpiceJet will be able to offer a same day return flight on both sectors.

SpiceJet is the only carrier operating on Mumbai-Gorakhpur sector and they just made it 2x daily (one-morning departure and another afternoon departure).

SpiceJet is adding capacity on some routes which were operated by Jet Airways as well as using the temporary slots to pursue their expansion like Mumbai – Madurai, Mumbai – Gorakhpur and Mumbai – Srinagar – Jammu -Mumbai. All the flights are temporarily and aren’t available for bookings from the end of July 2019.

SpiceJet is also planning to add new non-stop international flights to Hong Kong, Jeddah, Dubai, Colombo, Dhaka, Riyadh, Bangkok and Kathmandu from Mumbai. And to facilitate this expansion, SpiceJet is trying to get a hold of the international flying rights held by Jet Airways temporarily.

Looking at SpiceJet’s growth especially out of Mumbai and offering a business class product in the near future, no wonder Vistara is looking to lease up to 10 Jet Airways 737s, even if it is not what they had planned initially.

I am wondering if Air India is planning to add a few domestic flights out of Mumbai or Delhi using the grounded A319s, A321s, 777s or 787s since they are the only ones who haven’t added a single new temporary domestic flight yet. As for SpiceJet, restoring flights which were cancelled due to 737MAX groundings doesn’t seem to be a priority as their focus is only on adding new flights.