A day after Qantas sought to expand its presence in India by code-sharing with Jet Airways, the Singapore-based Jetstar Asia, a regional extension of Qantas, said it is also considering an alliance with the Indian carrier.
Its parent company Qantas has already sought a code-sharing with Jet Air.
MELBOURNE: A day after Qantas sought to expand its presence in India by code-sharing with Jet Airways, the Singapore-based Jetstar Asia, a regional extension of Qantas, said it is also considering an alliance with the Indian carrier.
Jetstar Asia has been in dialogue with Jet Airways and one or two other Indian carriers “but no firm agreement has been reached with anybody”, a media report quoted Jetstar CEO Alan Joyce as saying on Wednesday.
A Qantas spokesperson said it has applied for a code-share agreement with Jet Airways, which flies to 43 cities and holds 35% stake in the Indian market.
But neither the Australian carrier nor Jetstar commented on whether both having code-share arrangements with Jet Airways would pit them against each other.
Jetstar Asia is a Singapore-based partnership between local businessmen Tony Chew and FF Wong, Temasek Holdings and Qantas which holds major share of 44.5%.
It is the regional extension of Jetstar brand, launched by Qantas as a low-cost airline in the Australian market.
Speaking at an Australian and Irish chambers of commerce meeting, Joyce said Jetstar and Jetstar Asia would work closely to build the brand across Asia-Pacific region.
Jetstar Asia and Jetstar have a lot of potential synergies. By the time Jetstar’s international operations start in November, the two companies will share an Asian call centre and use the same website for bookings, he said.
“There are a lot of potential destinations in Asia and we’ll be teaming with Jetstar Asia to make sure we get the benefits. Korea and Japan are going to be big markets for us and India and China have potential to be big markets also,” Joyce added.
Meanwhile, Bangkok-based Nok Air Co said it will triple its fleet over the next two and a half years as it plans to start flights to Bangalore this year, making it the first Thailand-based discount carrier to fly to the Indian city.
The company, partly owned by Thai Airways International, plans to lease 10 more Boeing Co. 737-400s, Patee Sarasin, chief executive officer of the Bangkok-based carrier, said.
The airline, which leases its current fleet from Thai Air, flies four Boeing aircraft and an ATR 72 made by France-based Avions de Transport Regional.
Nok Air plans to start flights between Bangkok and the southern Indian city of Bangalore in October and add four domestic destinations to the eight it currently serves by early 2007.
Nok Air, one of at least 18 discount carriers that have emerged in the region since four years ago, needs to add routes as rivals including Singapore-based Tiger Airways are expanding their existing network to win more passengers amid rising oil prices.
The nation’s tourist arrivals will probably increase to 14.2 million this year from 12 million in 2005, boosting revenue to a record 490 billion baht (12.8 billion dollar), governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
In the first 11 months of 2005, visitors from India to Thailand rose 16% from a year earlier to 349,585, according to the latest data available on the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s website.
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