New Delhi, June 8 (IANS): Low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Thursday announced the launch of eight new direct flights and one connecting flight serving metro and non-metro cities, effective from July.

The airline said it will operate new direct flights on Hyderabad-Jaipur, Jaipur-Guwahati and Hyderabad-Chandigarh routes, effective from July 1.

Besides, it will operate daily direct flights to the new Patna-Mumbai, Patna-Kolkata, Patna-Hyderabad and Patna-Bengaluru sectors.

"SpiceJet will also operate a direct flight on the Delhi-Patna-Delhi route effective July 10. SpiceJet will operate its Boeing 737-800 aircraft on these routes," the airline said in a statement.

The airline said the new flights for the Hyderabad-Chandigarh sector marks the introduction of a new route in its domestic network.

"SpiceJet has recently added Patna as the latest station on its domestic network effective July 1. This is the first time that the airline will be serving the destination with both direct and onward connections," the statement added.

Currently, the airline operates 364 average daily flights to 46 destinations -- 39 domestic and seven international ones.