While the pandemic may have left the aviation industry high and dry, for some it was also an introduction of opportunities. Falling in the same list is SpiceJet, an airline company that has been (for the longest time) trying to fly to London.
After a lot of back and forth, the airline had recently got a green signal to operate flights to Heathrow. The pandemic opened the opportunity not just for SpiceJet, but for other airlines as well. Due to reduced flights operations owing to the pandemic, the otherwise constrained Heathrow granted the airlines ad-hoc slots for their operations.
These permissions&mdashgranted after months of denial&mdashled to SpiceJet announcing flights to London beginning December 4 this year, on HiFly&rsquos brand new A330-900neo, from Delhi, Mumbai and other routes.
However, the airline just announced that it has postponed these plans, indefinitely. According to media reports, the decision was taken late last week, when some passengers were informed about the cancellation. However, there is no announcement on the airlines&rsquo social media handles.
The flights to UK were set to operate between India and London till March 31, 2021, till the time the air bubble between the two countries was valid.
Passengers who had booked SpiceJet, however, are now being rebooked to other flights.
Many parts of Europe, including the UK, are under complete pandemic-induced lockdowns at the moment due to a rise in cases.
In the past, SpiceJet has not been able to operate flights to London because of two reasons. First, due to the non-availability of an aircraft for a long-haul flight. And secondly, the airlines was also offered slots to other airports, namely Gatwick and Stansted, which are lower on costs than Heathrow. However, the operator had refused these offers, choosing instead to wait till slots at Heathrow were available.