Summary
- SpiceJet evacuated several people from Israel using a wet-leased Airbus A340 and recently flew over 3,000 Thai citizens on 10 special flights.
- The airline has also used the A340 for evacuation missions to bring back Indian citizens from Israel as part of the Indian government’s repatriation efforts.
- SpiceJet has actively used the wet-leased A340 for previous commercial and charter flights.
Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet has played a crucial role in evacuating people from Israel due to the Israel-Hamas war. The airline has used widebody capacity for these missions by deploying an Airbus A340 aircraft that has been wet-leased. SpiceJet recently evacuated thousands of Thai citizens and earlier also took part in the India-led mission to evacuate its citizens from Israel.
Thai citizens evacuated
SpiceJet recently put its wet-leased Airbus A340 aircraft to use for evacuating more than 3,000 citizens of Thailand from Israel. According to reports, the low-cost carrier operated 10 special flights to carry out the mission.
These flights were carried out between October 20 and 31, flying on various routes, such as from Tel Aviv to Bangkok and Tel Aviv to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
Indeed, SpiceJet is actively deploying the A340 to the Middle East. When tracked on Flightradar24, the aircraft has exclusively flown between Beirut and New Delhi in the last seven days. While the exact reason for these flights is not known, many believe that these could also be UN charter flights.
Evacuating Indians, too
In October, SpiceJet also used the leased widebody plane to evacuate Indian citizens from Israel under the Indian Government’s Operation Ajay. The country organized several charter flights to bring back citizens from Israel, and SpiceJet also deployed its plane on the mission.
In fact, while operating one of the evacuation flights, the A340 also developed a technical snag after landing in Tel Aviv. It had to temporarily shift to Amman in Jordan to get the issue fixed before taking passengers from Tel Aviv. Regarding its evacuation flights, SpiceJet has said in a statement,
“The airline has actively participated in the Indian government-led repatriation efforts. The airline has consistently played a pivotal role in uniting families, transporting essential supplies during the pandemic, and contributing to operations such as ‘Operation Kaveri’ and ‘Operation Ganga.”
A340 wet-leased from Legend Airlines
The Airbus A340 is no stranger to SpiceJet, as the carrier often operates it on wet lease for various purposes. During the pandemic, SpiceJet also used an A340 for special cargo flights as well as Hajj flights this year.
SpiceJet currently has one A340 in its fleet, which has been wet-leased from Legend Airlines, an EU-registered carrier. Based in Bucharest, Romania, it was established in 2020 and operates an all-A340 fleet.
The aircraft currently used by SpiceJet is registered as YR-LRD and is 16.6 years old. As of October 2023, it has flown 53,134 hours across 6,194 flight cycles. Per ch-aviation, its previous operators include Airhub Airlines, Air Belgium, and Finnair.
For regular operations, SpiceJet uses a mixed fleet of Boeing 737 and Dash 8-Q400 planes. Recently, the airline also leased several more 737s to boost capacity for the busy winter travel months in India.
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Source: NDTV World