SpiceJet to add 20 aircraft to fleet by mid-November for winter schedule

Synopsis

SpiceJet is adding twenty aircraft to its fleet by mid-November. These planes will enhance capacity for the upcoming winter schedule and holiday travel. The airline aims for two hundred daily flights during this peak period. This expansion will strengthen both domestic and international network operations. The new capacity will help stabilize the market and ease airfare pressures.

SpiceJet has finalised lease agreements to induct 20 aircraft, comprising 15 Boeing and five Airbus planes, into its fleet between mid-October and mid-November, as the airline builds up capacity ahead of the winter schedule and the year-end holiday travel season.

The aircraft will be inducted under damp and wet lease arrangements, the airline said. Under a damp lease, the lessor supplies the aircraft along with flight crew and maintenance support while the airline provides its own cabin crew. In a wet lease, the lessor operates the aircraft with its own complete crew, insurance and maintenance cover.

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Among the five Airbus aircraft, the induction will include the A321 variant, which offers a higher seating capacity than SpiceJet's existing narrow-body fleet. This will allow the airline to deploy more seats on high-demand routes during the peak travel period.

With the new aircraft joining the fleet, SpiceJet is targeting 200 daily flights for the upcoming holidays and the winter schedule, the airline said. The induction is expected to strengthen capacity across both the airline's domestic and international network.

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SpiceJet said the additional capacity will help bring greater stability to the market and ease pressure on airfares during periods of peak demand. The airline added that the expanded fleet will support operations through the winter and into the following peak summer travel season.

The latest induction follows a similarly sized expansion a year ago. For the winter of 2025-26, SpiceJet had added 20 aircraft, a mix of damp-leased Boeing 737s, an Airbus A340 wide-body and reactivated grounded jets, between October and November 2025.

That round of inductions helped the airline more than double its operational fleet and triple its available seat kilometres (ASKM), taking its daily flight count to a peak of 250, up from 125 in the preceding summer schedule.

The airline has also been working to overhaul engines from its grounded aircraft, including CFM LEAP-1B engines for its Boeing 737 MAX fleet and turboprop engines for its Q400s, having dispatched close to 19 engines to maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities worldwide.