From its humble beginnings in 1993 as an "air taxi" operator, Jet Airways has grown to become the country’s largest domestic airline. With a reputation for quality service and products, the carrier is now looking to expand its international network and getting serious about cargo.
Now boasting 78 aircraft in its fleet with 248 flights a day on a network spanning 59 destinations covering not only the length and breadth of India, but a growing list of international destinations as well, Jet isclearly on a roll.
Speaking to Payload Asia on the sidelines of the recent Air Cargo India event in Mumbai, Jet Airways’ vice president cargo, Jay Shelat said the carrier is positioning itself for “tremendous growth,” which includes growing its fleet to 110 aircraft by 2011 and and a full 150 aircraft by 2016.
Among its current fleet are 9 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, 8 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 52 classic and next generation Boeing 737-400/700/800/900 aircraft and 9 modern ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft.
With an average fleet age of 4.4 years, the airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world. Th is fleet will get a boost over the next year and half from its firm orders for 22 more widebodies, including B777-300ERs and A330-200s. Jet also has a firm order with Boeing for 10 787-8 Dreamliners.
The move to dedicated cargo
But one particularly key element of the group’s expansion is the decision to move more fully into the cargo realm, with a pure cargo subsidiary.
The idea of a Jet cargo airline was first floated last year by Jet Airways chairman and founder, Naresh Goyal who subsequently gave a target to have the carrier operational by end-2008. And this is something being worked on in earnest by Shelat and his team.
“The process we are currently undertaking involves identifying the market, finding the niche and seeing how it complements our existing system,” said Shelat.
“Once we cross those two thresholds then we go to the question of what aircraft and how many do we need? Currently we’re at the second stage where we’ve identified a niche and we’re running through a financial review of the business plan.
“So it’s too early to say what type of aircraft we’ll need – we haven’t crossed that bridge yet,” he said, adding that by June “we should see a rationalisation of our strategy.”
He did admit some hesitation in immediately moving into dedicated freighters because of the 22 widebody aircraft that are entering the fleet over the next couple of years, “because that’s a lot of aircraft and a lot of belly capacity to fill”.
Shelat said Jet is likely to invest US$8-10 million in its cargo airline as an initial sum once it finalises most formalities including a likely partner for its freighter airline.
He declined to confirm whether German carrier Lufthansa Cargo would be its preferred partner for the upcoming venture, following substantial media reports suggesting such an alliance is likely.
“We are talking to a lot of people, Lufthansa is one of them, but there are other airlines with signifi cant resources and revenue that are interested in a partnership with us,” he said.
Belly hold to suffice for now
In the meantime, Jet will continue to make use of its passenger belly hold capacity, through which it moves nearly 150 tonnes per day which generates nearly 8 per cent of Jet’s annual turnover.
The airline currently operates to the following regional destinations: Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Colombo and Kathmandu, Dhaka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat and Doha.
Among its overseas destinations Jet flies to New York (both JFK and Newark), Toronto, Brussels and London (Heathrow).
Expansion plans in the wings
The carrier has selected Brussels as its European hub for traffic between India and North America (particularly East Coast cities). Service to the West Coast via China will begin soon although the carrier is still waiting on the governments of India and China to sort out the fifth freedom rights.
Jet is planning three new China routes: Bombay-Shanghai-San Francisco; Bombay- Hong Kong and New Delhi-Hong Kong.
“Everybody in the community knows that the San Francisco-Shanghai leg is going to be a challenge as there is not much going from the US to Shanghai, but we’re confident we can make it work,” he said.
Saying he welcomes competition Shelat isn’t fazed by the fact Air India will also be flying to Hong Kong. “We have the advantage of the reliability of our dispatch, our planes are different from our competitors and most of our customers have been with us for quite some time,” he said.
“From listening to our customers, they are more eager for us to start the services than we are and that gives us some assurance that these new services will be successful,” he added.
North American codeshare
Jet Airways has also signed two recent codeshare agreements, the first with American Airlines which will see its ”9W’ code on American Airlines/American Eagle operated flights between New York’s JFK and Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas (Fort Worth), Raleigh-Durham and Washington (Reagan).
The second is with Air Canada, offering seamless travel to passengers between India and Canada. With this partnership, passengers can fly between Mumbai and London Heathrow on Jet Airways operated flights continuing to/ from Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Edmonton on flights operated by Air Canada. The arrangement also includes Jet Airways’ operated flights from Chennai to Toronto.
These recent agreements mark Jet Airways’ third and fourth codeshare partnerships, after its earlier tie-ups with Brussels Airlines and Qantas.
The airline plans to continue expanding its strategic alliances, as well as extending its international operations to other cities in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia in phases with the introduction of additional wide-body aircraft into its fleet.