Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet has today operated its first flight on the Rajkot-Goa-Rajkot route. With this, Rajkot has now become the 3rd city in the Indian state of Gujarat to be connected to Goa with a nonstop flight.
Inaugural flight
SpiceJet’s inaugural flight, SG3701 operated by a De Havilland Canada Dash-8 Q400 aircraft registered as VT-SQI took off from Rajkot Airport at 14:12 hours, just 12 minutes behind the scheduled departure time of 14:00, bound for Goa International Airport, according to Flightradar24. After staying in the air for about 1 hour and 39 minutes, the flight landed 15:51 hours, 29 minutes before scheduled arrival time of 16:20, thus making up for the delayed departure.
The return leg of the route was also operated by the same aircraft. Flight SG3702 took off from Goa at 16:51 hours, 14 minutes before the scheduled departure time of 17:05. The flight landed at 18:28 hours after a flight of around 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Note that flight SG3701 operates on Delhi-Rajkot-Goa route. The aircraft, upon arriving in Rajkot, was given a water cannon salute to mark the occasion.
The flight schedule of Rajkot-Goa-Rajkot route is:
- Rajkot-Goa
- Departure time: 14:00
- Arrival time: 16:20
- Flight time: 2 hours and 20 minutes
- Flight number: SG3701
- Frequency: Daily
- Goa-Rajkot
- Departure time: 17:05
- Arrival time: 19:25
- Flight time: 2 hours and 20 minutes
- Flight number: SG3702
- Frequency: Daily
Rajkot has now become the third city in the West Indian state of Gujarat to be connected with a nonstop flight to Goa after Ahmedabad and Surat.
SpiceJet had originally planned to launch flights between Rajkot and Goa on 8th May 2021. However, the airline pushed back the launch as a result of the deadly second wave of COVID-19 in India which resulted in a major drop in passenger numbers across the country.
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Private carriers are back at Rajkot
Private carriers are once again serving Rajkot Airport. Both the carriers which serve the city of Rajkot – Indigo and SpiceJet – had suspended flights to/from the airport as a result of low passenger numbers. However, as India emerges strongly out of the second wave of COVID-19 and travellers once again taking to the skies, Indigo, which is a new entrant in the Rajkot market, and SpiceJet have resumed flights to the city.
As of 12th July 2021, Indigo is operating 4-weekly flights to Mumbai and 3-weekly flights to New Delhi as of 14th July 2021. SpiceJet has resumed flights from the city today, with daily nonstop flights to Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad. Indigo will resume its once-weekly flights to Hyderabad in August. Finally, both the airlines will resume flights to Bengaluru on 1st August 2021.
While Air India reduced frequency of flights, it has never stopped flying to Rajkot during the second wave.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet recently announced flights from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam and Guwahati. The airline has also announced 42 new domestic and international flights and has resumed flights to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.
Featured image by Planespotters
What do you think of SpiceJet’s Rajkot-Goa route? Let me know in the comments section below.
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