The low-cost airline, which Jet Airways acquired from Air Sahara earlier this year, has applied for necessary approvals to begin flying on the Gulf sector.
Expects to fly to the region by early next year
NEW DELHI: JetLite is looking to expand on international routes even as it struggles to add capacity on the domestic front. The low-cost airline, which Jet Airways acquired from Air Sahara earlier this year, has applied for necessary approvals to begin flying on the Gulf sector.
“We have already applied for permission to fly Gulf routes which we want to start by first quarter of next year. We would like to begin services to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Bahrain, Qatar and Doha,” JetLite CEO Garry Kingshot said on Friday.
Till now, Air India Express — the low-cost airline from the state carrier — is the only prominent service available to Indians flying to the Gulf region. But while JetLite is looking forward to flying to the Gulf, it has closed two routes in South East Asia — Singapore and Male — because of non-viability.
JetLite is planning to expand on international routes even as it struggles to add capacity on the domestic front.
Kingshot said the company is looking at leasing 6-8 Boeing 737s to generate more capacity and negotiations for buying these aircraft are on.
As of now, the company operates 24 aircraft across domestic destinations besides on routes to Kathmandu and Colombo.
When asked about the financial health of JetLite, Kingshot said the company would become cash positive “before March 2008 if we can fly all our planes under the present revenue flow model. As of now, four of our aircraft are not flying”.
He said the ideal cost differential between a full-service and a low-cost airline should be about 35% but JetLite is yet to arrive at this benchmark.
Not only is the company trying to maximise load factors for this purpose, efforts are on to also generate alternative revenue streams like advertising and ancillary services (excess baggage charge for example).
Kingshot also made it clear that with the rise in fuel prices, ticket prices are also being raised.
“We have realised Rs 200 average yield per ticket over the last six months by adopting this policy.”
Acknowledging that his company has reduced manpower after taking over the operations from Air Sahara, Kingshot said: “Our manpower strength is down to 2,100 from 4,300 at the time of takeover. This is a calculated move on our part but we have got rid of only those people who were assured jobs with Sahara. Now, we may add some more people depending on our future requirements.”
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