Jet Airways is in talks with several Chinese airlines for a possible partnership similar to its existing tie-up with Brussels Airlines.
May site MRO in Chennai; talks on for $400m fund mop-up
MUMBAI: Jet Airways is in talks with several Chinese airlines for a possible partnership similar to its existing tie-up with Brussels Airlines.
Such an agreement would help Jet improve connectivity in China, ahead of it developing Shanghai as a hub for its flights onwards to North America.
Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways, confirmed this, but declined to name the airlines involved in discussions.
Jet, which has Brussels as its hub for Europe and cities on the east coast of the US, currently has a partnership with Brussels Airlines for connecting the hub with various cities in Europe.
The CEO also reaffirmed the plans to raise $400 million through a rights issue or QIP despite the current turmoil in global financial markets.
“We are in constant touch with our investment bankers to find the best possible way to raise the money.”
Meanwhile, the airline is finalising the setting up of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility.
While Jet officials refused to comment on the location of the MRO, sources have indicated that Chennai is in pole position.
The MRO would be able to do C and D checks for narrow body aircrafts and C checks for wide-bodied aircraft.
Jet is also in talks with several established MRO players Nagpur is being developed by Air India in partnership with Boeing as its station to carry out maintenance.
Jetlite, which has applied for flying rights to the Gulf, will look to connect secondary cities in India to the Middle East.
Cities in its radar include the likes of Jaipur and Lucknow.
Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, said, “There is a lot of untapped demand for the Gulf from secondary cities. Jetlite have applied for these routes.”
Traffic from the metros and Kerala would be catered to by Jet Airways. This means that Jetlite would compete with Air India Express and Air Arabia, which has similar plans to tap the traffic from tier II cities.
Jet has been ramping up its operations to the Gulf quite quickly over the past month. Deccan, part of Kingfisher Airlines, which will start flying to Gulf from August, has taken a different approach to the sector with the LCC being the lone brand being used to serve Gulf instead of the twin airline approach favoured by Jet and Air India.
More than 35% of international traffic from India is headed to the Gulf, making Middle East one of the most competitive routes from India. According to Jet, there are 16 mn seats currently servicing the India-Gulf sector, with Jet offering 1mn seats from its 10 flights.
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