SpiceJet Setting Up Hub In Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Can anyone tell how Ras Al Khaimah or RKT (seriously folks, it's not Marrakesh here!) is as a place to connect? Because it looks quite a bit like an oversized shed in the desert... I'm not seriously considering flying them to get to India, as there are more convenient ways to get there. The idea of spending 1) 10 nearly consecutive hours or more in a narrow-body aircraft which 2) stops at a shed in the desert which is a hub for 3) an Indian low cost carrier is far from tempting. Air India actually already operates a flight to this airport from India, so it might well work. It may be an interesting way to get to Ras Al Khaimah, which is one of the few Emirates that I haven't visited yet. And other alternatives to fly in there mean that I first, for example, must make my way to Pakistan or so. That will definitely make the journey more interesting than the destination! :D

I think the viability of their RAK operation depends on a number of factors. I can see why they are venturing into this- India UAE has a fixed demand and the mix of transit and O&D customers should make filling a 737 not too challenging. With their low fares, I see SG stimulating new demand from the smaller tier 2 and tier 3 cities verus the major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai that are well served by existing carriers. The combination of a narrow body air craft and low cost product is an ideal product to target these thinner markets who would get low fares and seamless one stop connectivity. This was actually the rationale behind the EY 9W partnership where Jet was supposed to use its narrow body planes to bring passengers from smaller cities in India. Unfortunately, the cost structure and lack of focus inhibited from realizing this potential. Spicejet would do well to be cognizant of this. Africa too could be an interesting continent for them to target. Post the 9w debacle the India outbound market has seen major price escalations. While earlier it would have been difficult for a low cost carrier to sustain a cost advantage, there is an opportunity now given that the air fares have risen 20% on average. It is also likely that RAK will support this operation heavily and even subsidize it. This will allow SG to offer lower fares and more importantly link city pairs that cannot be serviced by mainstream carriers. While other carriers such as Jazeera and Air Arabia are pursuing a similar business model, Spicejet's brand recognition and network scale in India would give them a huge advantage in the primary source market. Meanwhile, competitor Indigo has put their European expansion on hold and is instead focused on South East Asia essentially leaving Spicejet's path clear from it's more formidable competitor. Moreover, this is a very low risk strategy for Spicejet considering it is not investing into a new fleet meaning exit costs will be low if things dont quite work out to plan. Coincidentally Indigo has scrapped plans of serving LGW non stop. It seems both the Indian LCCs have taken note of the painful experiences of other LCCs around the world who forayed into long haul and also wide body operations. It's good to see them taking a pragmatic view and also avoiding competitive overlaps with each other. Overall, I can actually see this working. Spicejet can actually stimulate new demand verus competing with large incumbents who will be happy to cede those low yielding segments. That's when low costs have succeeded. Having said I certainly wont be lining up to buy tickets for a one stop flight to London via RAK on a 737 max

Maybe something to feed all the resorts RAK built or... air cargo distribution for those RAK toilets.

i dont know why you included the MAX, its practically dead, no ones gonna use it anytime soon

"I suppose there will also be a fair bit of demand between the UAE and India, especially among workers from India coming to the UAE. Then again, that’s not exactly high yield traffic either." Inaccurate - the demand for labor is high and the travel expenses are provided by the contracting firms.