New Delhi: SpiceJet on Wednesday said it has sent its freighter flight to China to bring medical supplies from Shanghai to Hyderabad amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus threat.
The flight left from Kolkata airport at 8.25 am on Wednesday and landed at 3.30 pm (local time) at Shanghai, it said.
It would then depart from Shanghai at 5 pm (local time) and arrive at Kolkata airport at 8.10 pm. After leaving Kolkata at 9 pm, the flight would land at 11.10 pm in Hyderabad on Wednesday, SpiceJet said.
Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director, SpiceJet, said, “From today, SpiceJet freighters have begun ferrying crucial medical supplies from China. In addition to Shanghai, we are also operating freighters to Singapore and Sri Lanka today."
"Regular SpiceJet cargo flights are also being operated to Hong Kong, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Ho Chi Minh City and other places while our domestic cargo operations have been significantly boosted by our passenger aircraft fleet where both our B737 and Q400 aircraft have been deployed to operate cargo-on-seat flights," he added.
This is the first time that SpiceJet is operating a freighter to China, the airline said.
"SpiceJet is also operating a freighter flight to Colombo carrying farm produce from West Bengal and another cargo flight to Singapore today," the airline said in a press release.
Singh had on Tuesday said that airlines in India need short-term support from the government as revenues have dried up due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has written to civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri, seeking urgent financial rescue package and tax incentives for airlines in line with those offered by the US, China and Europe. However, there has been no response from the government yet.
The budget carrier said it has till date transported over 2,700 tons of cargo on more than 300 flights since the country-wide lockdown began on March 25.
