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| Edited By: Sindhu Bhattacharya |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 17, 2018, 06:48 AM IST
Jet Airways, India’s largest private airline, is looking to expand its network in several European cities besides also launching a non-stop service to New York.
According to civil aviation ministry sources, the airline has received temporary permission to fly daily to Milan, Italy, from New Delhi. This service is already operational.
“But, this is a temporary permission. Jet wants to join Alitalia’s network within Italy and also for onward connections to other European cities,” said a source.
Jet has been given permission to fly to Milan pending a fresh Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and Italy.
At present, Italy does not allow any Indian airline to enter into code share with an Italian airline for domestic routes within Italy. The permission is temporary since the ASA will be amended by March.
Code share is a flight with two or more legs, covered by one ticket and sold by one airline, for a destination served not directly by it but through an affiliated airline.
A code share flight uses the same two-letter carrier code during all legs of the journey.
When the ASA is renewed, Jet also wants to launch a daily service to Rome from New Delhi and then use Italy as a base for onward connections to Europe and North America.
At present, it uses Brussels as a hub and as a gateway to Europe and North America.
Apart from Italy, Jet has also been permitted to launch a daily service from New Delhi to Amsterdam from this year’s winter schedule.
Jet Airways’ chief commercial officer Sudheer Raghavan did not respond to queries on the airline’s international expansion.
Meanwhile, the airline’s proposal to begin daily services to Paris has not been cleared as it does not have the required aircraft to operate in this sector.
“The Paris proposal is under consideration. Jet wants this connection from the winter schedule but it is yet to get back some of the leased aircraft. When that happens, we will look at this issue again,” the sources said.
At present, Air India runs a Delhi-Paris service four days a week. Jet has already sought permission from aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start a non-stop service to New York from the winter schedule.
At present, Indian flights carry 4 of every 10 passengers flying abroad.
As per the DGCA’s latest figures, the average load factor of Indian carriers flying overseas in 2010 was 72.8% (70.7% in 2009).
Total passengers carried on international routes by Indian carriers were 13,028,514 (11,128,096 in 2009).
Jet’s focus on expanding its international operations comes close on the heels of its profit in this sector for the December quarter this fiscal.
Ebidta for the quarter in international operations was 26% for Jet Airways against 23% for domestic operations and 22% for low-cost arm, JetLite.
The airline’s competitors such as Kingfisher and IndiGo are also gearing up to expand their overseas destinations.
Kingfisher and IndiGo were recently permitted to launch flights to Colombo from destinations other than Chennai. IndiGo has been awarded permission to fly to Singapore where Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher are already operational.
But, while other Indian carriers are clamouring to expand in South East Asia and the Gulf region, Jet is keen to consolidate its hold on European and North American routes.
Rashesh Shah at ICICI Securities says it is apparent from Jet’s Q3 results that the airline is shifting focus to international operations.
“Jet has seen robust growth in passenger traffic last quarter on the international sector but in terms of revenue per passenger, it seems to be facing competitive pressures. Revenue per passenger in the domestic sector recorded 10% growth in the December quarter but the international revenue per passenger was flat,” he said.
