This growth has been achieved through the integration of operational efficiencies network planning, strategic code shares, marketing initiatives and on-time performance, all of which has helped the airline stay a step ahead, said Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways.

JetLite, the wholly owned subsidiary of Jet Airways India Ltd, has also posted good seat factors of 85.3 per cent carrying over 4.02 lakh passengers in the month of May 2010. JetLite’s code share with Jet Airways has enabled the airline to enhance its penetration of the travelling market.

According to Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways, “A record breaking eight months of consecutive growth ratifies the fact that Jet Airways has been able to capitalise on the upswing in domestic and global air traffic. This is largely due to the effective network planning and strategic marketing initiatives implemented in the past year which have enabled us to stay a step ahead of the growth curve in the Indian aviation sector. Our enhanced domestic and international network capabilities, coupled with strategic code-shares, have further helped us deliver seamless travel solutions to our discerning guests. Most importantly, the unwavering dedication and commitment displayed by the Jet Airways team has played a decisive role in Jet Airways consolidating its leadership position. A marked increase in demand for our premiere segment and growing popularity of the recently launched Konnect Select offering, further exemplifies our understanding of the dynamic needs of the Indian consumer.”

News Source – travelbizmonitor.com

Jet Airways saw the best month ever for flights to India from the UK in March 2010, with seven months of consecutive growth since October 2009. The airline has been sustaining its seat factor for its international operations at over 75% reflecting continued high demand for Jet Airways’ award-winning product. Despite the turbulent economic climate, the carrier has continued to woo business guests onboard with ultra-high levels of service, making improvements in business class such as becoming the first airline to offer complimentary Dom Perignon Champagne.

The Indian market leader is now predicting that demand for business travel and front end traffic will help drive Jet Airways’ expansion in Europe.

Key priorities for 2010 for Jet include increasing expanding connectivity in the Middle East to match demand. A new daily flight to Doha, Qatar, from Delhi started in January 2010. Jet’s first daily direct service from Mumbai to Johannesburg launched on 14 April 2010, in time for the World Cup.

Dubai carrier loses $11 million a day in lost business and passenger accommodation, as volcano creates chaos.

Carrier has 20 per cent of its fleet grounded. Cancellation and accommodation costs running into millions for other global airlines. (SUPPLIED)

Emirates has so far incurred a total loss of $50 million (Dh183.5m) in revenues as a result of the flights disruptions caused by volcanic ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano that erupted on Wednesday last week.

“For Emirates, it has been a $50m loss of income so far over a period of five days by the way of losing $10m a day. In addition, we have lost another $5m (per day loss of $1m) in terms of accommodating the stranded passengers in Dubai hotels,” Tim Clark, President, Emirates airline, told Emirates Business. “These are losses which are coming straight out of our own pocket.”

The airline said it is providing accommodation for approximately 6,000 passengers who were in transit when the disruption began, and that, to date, over 80,000 passengers have been impacted by the ongoing disruption. Clark added that the airline has cancelled operations to all its UK and European routes due to the ongoing issue with the “exception of some”.

“We estimate it will take around 24 hours to get flight schedules back to normal,” said Clark, adding that the airline is not accepting passengers for travel to any European destinations excluding Moscow, Athens, Larnaca, Malta and Istanbul until April 20.

He further said that Emirates has had to ground 20 per cent of its fleet, with 30 planes on the ground as of now.

“We, along with the heads of other European carriers, are possibly seeking some relief and relaxation in terms of the shutdown of airspace. It does not have to be a complete shutdown,” Clark told Emirates Business. Meanwhile, the impact of the volcanic eruptions is being felt by almost all the Gulf carriers serving the UK and European destinations.

These include Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Gulf Air – they have all had to bear consequences, including economic, from the shutdown of UK and European airspace.

Flight restrictions have been extended in most parts of Europe until today and weather forecast predicts that the ash cloud could remain for many more days, leaving many airlines across the globe in a quandary.

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways said yesterday its flight cancellations remain in place to the UK, Ireland, Belarus and the majority of its European destinations until further notice, due to the spread of volcanic ash cloud. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier also said that it has reinstated services to Moscow as of yesterday afternoon and that Moscow services will return to their normal operating schedule from today. The airline’s spokesperson told Emirates Business that about 2,500 passengers were stranded in the region and that their staying expenses were taken care of by the airline. However, the spokesperson denied to comment on the total loss that the airline had to incur due to this.

Oman Air

The flagship airline of Oman avowed that several Europe-bound passengers were stranded in the region. “We fly to London, Munich, Frankfurt and Paris. These flights have all been cancelled since the closure of European airspace. We have a few hundred passengers bound for Europe stranded in the region,” said the airline spokesperson. When asked about losses, he said: “It is currently too early to make a proper assessment on the losses incurred.”

Gulf Air

The Bahrain-based airline, too, cancelled its flights to the European subcontinent. The company’s websites stated it is monitoring the situation in the Europe. The carrier said in a statement the volcanic ash plume over European airspace has lead to the cancellation of its flights to and from London, Paris and Frankfurt. Around 32 flights have been affected since April 15, when these airports were declared closed, Gulf Air said. According to the company’s website, travellers can rebook their seats. “Passengers holding confirmed tickets on disrupted flights can also claim full or partial refund. No cancellation, refund, service charges, fees or penalties will be imposed,” the website stated.

Qatar Airways

Passengers flying in Qatar Airways remained stranded not just in the Middle East but also in India. While an e-mail sent to Qatar Airways about the current status of the situation went unanswered, the Doha-based carrier said earlier it has cancelled more than 40 flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday to and from European destinations. Affected destinations include Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Manchester, Munich, Paris and Stockholm.

Global scene

Flights from the Asia too were cancelled. Asian airline, cancelled flights and accommodation costs are running into millions of dollars for the airline. “If this continues, there will be an impact on the earnings of all big carriers,” Dow Jones quoted an officer from Asia.

Australian carrier Qantas, which uses Singapore as one of its major hubs for Europe-bound flights, has offered stranded passengers at Asian ports the opportunity to take flights back to Australia. It says about 10,000 passengers have in total been affected by cancellations. A spokeswoman for Qantas said it has about 1,000 passengers stranded in Singapore, with many now taking up the offer to return to Australia, DJ reported. Singapore Airlines, one of the biggest carriers in the world, said it has been unable to move many of its stranded passengers due to limited capacity on alternative routes. Singapore Airlines spokesperson Nicholas Ionides said the carrier has been cancelling around 20 flights to and from Europe daily, since the problem began.

“At this point, Rome and Athens airports are open to us,” said Ionides. “We have put all stranded passengers in hotels – we can’t put extra flights to open airports mainly because those airports have imposed restrictions and they are not accepting more flights.”

China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest airline by revenue, spent at least NT$5 million on chartering buses and a ferry to move passengers in Europe, a company’s public relation officer was quoted by DJ.

China Airlines, which operates flights to five destinations in Europe, diverted one London-bound flight on Thursday to Frankfurt, and chartered buses to transport the nearly 300 passengers to Paris from Frankfurt, and from Paris to London by ferry, the official who declined to be named, said.

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau said currently there are 1,455 Taiwanese passengers in Europe awaiting return flights, but all tour groups leaving after Friday have already cancelled their flights. Mid-April is the beginning of the peak travel season to Europe, according to the bureau.

China Airlines and smaller rival EVA Airways posted on their websites that they have cancelled another 19 flights on Sunday and Monday to and from Europe, including connecting flights.

India’s Jet Airways said it will soon start routing some of its flights to the US and Canada via Athens. A spokeswoman for Jet said the airline has received permission from government authorities in the European Union and India to use Athens as a temporary transit point until London Heathrow and Brussels airports re-open.

A spokesman for another Indian carrier, Air India, also said that the airline is planning to fly to the US via alternative routes. Among other airlines, Cathay Pacific has now cancelled all its European flights to and from Hong Kong for Sunday, Monday and some flights even for Tuesday, with exception of those to Rome. Another 16 flights scheduled from Thursday to Sunday have been further delayed until at least Tuesday, it said. Flag carrier Air China said it has cancelled nine flights to Europe from Beijing and two from Shanghai that were scheduled for Sunday, a Dow Jones Newswires report said.

Revenue loss

International Air Transport Association or IATA on Sunday said in a recent statement that Airlines worldwide were losing at least $200m per day in revenue. “The estimate is conservative and does not include costs such as rerouting planes or caring for stranded passengers. Airlines worldwide will lose a collective $2.8bn in 2010 after an estimated $9.8bn cumulative loss last year, IATA had predicted last month.

Meanwhile, the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation or Capa, gave a bigger estimate than IATA for lost industry revenue, saying a third day of disruptions could total $1bn, Capa’s Chief Operating Officer, Derek Sadubin was quoted by Bloomberg as saying this.

He said: “The lost revenue for the industry could be in the hundreds of millions, possibly as high as $1bn.” He added that some six million passengers would be affected if the shutdown of European airports continues. “It will take days to restore schedules, even if the scare is called off today,” stated Bloomberg, quoting Capa’s recent report.

Ash cloud brings in the cash for UAE hotels

Bindu Suresh Rai

As the volcanic ash cloud continues to create havoc, the biggest casualty in this disaster is the opening of the Armani Hotel Dubai, which has been delayed again with flights being grounded across Europe.

In a statement to Emirates Business, a spokesperson from Armani Hotel said: “Due to the unforeseen closure of European Aerospace and the subsequent cancellation of international flights, the much anticipated grand opening of Armani Hotel Dubai has been postponed from April 21 to April 27.”

It has been learned that designer, Giorgio Armani, along with a lieu of celebrities, were stranded in Europe, prompting local partners Emaar Properties to delay the opening of the Burj Khalifa property by six days.

However, a silver lining has emerged for the UAE’s hospitality industry at large, which is seeing 100 per cent occupancy levels in some cases as hotels struggle to accommodate air passengers stranded in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Premier Inn is running at full occupancy across all three properties, as the budget chain takes in passengers from Emirates airline, which it partners with.

Similarly, hospitality giants Jumeirah Group, Rotana, Rezidor and the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) are also witnessing a surge in room bookings.

“We are completely booked across all three properties, however, the situation updates every 24 hours,” Darroch Crawford, Managing Director for Premier Inn Middle East, told Emirates Business. “However, there is no doubt hotels are taking advantage of the situation through rates, bookings and their F&B outlets.”

Similarly, Al Bustan Rotana Hotel is enjoying a 94 per cent occupancy. Helena Al Sayed, Director of Marketing and Communications for the hotel, said: “We are running at 94 per cent occupancy, with almost 30 per cent of that being passengers that have been stranded at the airport and those who have extended their stay due to their flights being cancelled.” Meanwhile, IHG sales teams have approached airlines to take in passengers.

Christian Pertl, Director of Sales and Marketing, IHG Dubai Festival City, said: “Our sales force proactively contacted all the major airlines to offer as much support as possible – this included calls to Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates. We accommodated as many rooms as we could offer.”

However, Pertl added that they did not notice a definite surge in occupancy as their existing properties, InterContinental Dubai Festival City and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, were already at near capacity.

While some hotels had to turn away passengers because they were full, a spokesperson from Jumeirah Group said: “We have been able to accommodate all our guests that have been affected within Jumeirah Hotels.”

Hotels in the capital were also enjoying the boom, with Rezidor Group’s Park Inn and Radisson Blu Abu Dhabi, Yas Island, completely booked out.

Torbjorn Bodin, General Manager Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas Island, said: “Both our properties here are fully occupied, with the make-up of the residents being largely those that were in-house guests before the flight situation arose and are now unable to leave for Europe.”

Source – news.oneindia.in

Jet Airways, Air India to resume flights from midnight

Mumbai, Apr 18 (ANI): The director-general of civil aviation on Sunday gave “go ahead”to Jet Airways and Air India to resume their flights to and from the US and Canada via Athens in Greece from Monday.

According to the Jet Airways, the chosen route would avoid the volcanic ash that is currently affecting European airspace.

The airline also plans to resume flights to London and Brussels as soon as London Heathrow and Brussels airports re-open.

As a goodwill gesture, in case of cancellation or rescheduling of passengers’ travel plans, Jet Airways has decided to waive off all penalties.

Meanwhile, the national carrier, Air India, has decided to resume its flight to the US from Monday.

The airline will operate its non-stop Boeing 777-200 LR flights, on the Mumbai-New York-Mumbai and Delhi-New York-Delhi sectors.

However, these flights will operate through alternative routes, in view of closure of the European Airspace.

As there is a backlog of passengers due to flight cancellations over the past few days, passengers are advised to contact Air India before proceeding to the Airport.

The call centre numbers from India are: 1800 22 77 22, 0124 2877 777; from USA – 1800 223 7776. (ANI)

Emirates loses $50m in income to volcanic ash

Dubai carrier loses $11 million a day in lost business and passenger accommodation, as volcano creates chaos.

By

• Shweta Jain and Sachin Dave

Published Monday, April 19, 2010

Carrier has 20 per cent of its fleet grounded. Cancellation and accommodation costs running into millions for other global airlines. (SUPPLIED)

Emirates has so far incurred a total loss of $50 million (Dh183.5m) in revenues as a result of the flights disruptions caused by volcanic ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano that erupted on Wednesday last week.

“For Emirates, it has been a $50m loss of income so far over a period of five days by the way of losing $10m a day. In addition, we have lost another $5m (per day loss of $1m) in terms of accommodating the stranded passengers in Dubai hotels,” Tim Clark, President, Emirates airline, told Emirates Business. “These are losses which are coming straight out of our own pocket.”

The airline said it is providing accommodation for approximately 6,000 passengers who were in transit when the disruption began, and that, to date, over 80,000 passengers have been impacted by the ongoing disruption. Clark added that the airline has cancelled operations to all its UK and European routes due to the ongoing issue with the “exception of some”.

“We estimate it will take around 24 hours to get flight schedules back to normal,” said Clark, adding that the airline is not accepting passengers for travel to any European destinations excluding Moscow, Athens, Larnaca, Malta and Istanbul until April 20.

He further said that Emirates has had to ground 20 per cent of its fleet, with 30 planes on the ground as of now.

“We, along with the heads of other European carriers, are possibly seeking some relief and relaxation in terms of the shutdown of airspace. It does not have to be a complete shutdown,” Clark told Emirates Business. Meanwhile, the impact of the volcanic eruptions is being felt by almost all the Gulf carriers serving the UK and European destinations.

These include Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Gulf Air – they have all had to bear consequences, including economic, from the shutdown of UK and European airspace.

Flight restrictions have been extended in most parts of Europe until today and weather forecast predicts that the ash cloud could remain for many more days, leaving many airlines across the globe in a quandary.

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways said yesterday its flight cancellations remain in place to the UK, Ireland, Belarus and the majority of its European destinations until further notice, due to the spread of volcanic ash cloud. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier also said that it has reinstated services to Moscow as of yesterday afternoon and that Moscow services will return to their normal operating schedule from today. The airline’s spokesperson told Emirates Business that about 2,500 passengers were stranded in the region and that their staying expenses were taken care of by the airline. However, the spokesperson denied to comment on the total loss that the airline had to incur due to this.

Oman Air

The flagship airline of Oman avowed that several Europe-bound passengers were stranded in the region. “We fly to London, Munich, Frankfurt and Paris. These flights have all been cancelled since the closure of European airspace. We have a few hundred passengers bound for Europe stranded in the region,” said the airline spokesperson. When asked about losses, he said: “It is currently too early to make a proper assessment on the losses incurred.”

Gulf Air

The Bahrain-based airline, too, cancelled its flights to the European subcontinent. The company’s websites stated it is monitoring the situation in the Europe. The carrier said in a statement the volcanic ash plume over European airspace has lead to the cancellation of its flights to and from London, Paris and Frankfurt. Around 32 flights have been affected since April 15, when these airports were declared closed, Gulf Air said. According to the company’s website, travellers can rebook their seats. “Passengers holding confirmed tickets on disrupted flights can also claim full or partial refund. No cancellation, refund, service charges, fees or penalties will be imposed,” the website stated.

Qatar Airways

Passengers flying in Qatar Airways remained stranded not just in the Middle East but also in India. While an e-mail sent to Qatar Airways about the current status of the situation went unanswered, the Doha-based carrier said earlier it has cancelled more than 40 flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday to and from European destinations. Affected destinations include Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Manchester, Munich, Paris and Stockholm.

Global scene

Flights from the Asia too were cancelled. Asian airline, cancelled flights and accommodation costs are running into millions of dollars for the airline. “If this continues, there will be an impact on the earnings of all big carriers,” Dow Jones quoted an officer from Asia.

Australian carrier Qantas, which uses Singapore as one of its major hubs for Europe-bound flights, has offered stranded passengers at Asian ports the opportunity to take flights back to Australia. It says about 10,000 passengers have in total been affected by cancellations. A spokeswoman for Qantas said it has about 1,000 passengers stranded in Singapore, with many now taking up the offer to return to Australia, DJ reported. Singapore Airlines, one of the biggest carriers in the world, said it has been unable to move many of its stranded passengers due to limited capacity on alternative routes. Singapore Airlines spokesperson Nicholas Ionides said the carrier has been cancelling around 20 flights to and from Europe daily, since the problem began.

“At this point, Rome and Athens airports are open to us,” said Ionides. “We have put all stranded passengers in hotels – we can’t put extra flights to open airports mainly because those airports have imposed restrictions and they are not accepting more flights.”

China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest airline by revenue, spent at least NT$5 million on chartering buses and a ferry to move passengers in Europe, a company’s public relation officer was quoted by DJ.

China Airlines, which operates flights to five destinations in Europe, diverted one London-bound flight on Thursday to Frankfurt, and chartered buses to transport the nearly 300 passengers to Paris from Frankfurt, and from Paris to London by ferry, the official who declined to be named, said.

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau said currently there are 1,455 Taiwanese passengers in Europe awaiting return flights, but all tour groups leaving after Friday have already cancelled their flights. Mid-April is the beginning of the peak travel season to Europe, according to the bureau.

China Airlines and smaller rival EVA Airways posted on their websites that they have cancelled another 19 flights on Sunday and Monday to and from Europe, including connecting flights.

India’s Jet Airways said it will soon start routing some of its flights to the US and Canada via Athens. A spokeswoman for Jet said the airline has received permission from government authorities in the European Union and India to use Athens as a temporary transit point until London Heathrow and Brussels airports re-open.

A spokesman for another Indian carrier, Air India, also said that the airline is planning to fly to the US via alternative routes. Among other airlines, Cathay Pacific has now cancelled all its European flights to and from Hong Kong for Sunday, Monday and some flights even for Tuesday, with exception of those to Rome. Another 16 flights scheduled from Thursday to Sunday have been further delayed until at least Tuesday, it said. Flag carrier Air China said it has cancelled nine flights to Europe from Beijing and two from Shanghai that were scheduled for Sunday, a Dow Jones Newswires report said.

Revenue loss

International Air Transport Association or IATA on Sunday said in a recent statement that Airlines worldwide were losing at least $200m per day in revenue. “The estimate is conservative and does not include costs such as rerouting planes or caring for stranded passengers. Airlines worldwide will lose a collective $2.8bn in 2010 after an estimated $9.8bn cumulative loss last year, IATA had predicted last month.

Meanwhile, the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation or Capa, gave a bigger estimate than IATA for lost industry revenue, saying a third day of disruptions could total $1bn, Capa’s Chief Operating Officer, Derek Sadubin was quoted by Bloomberg as saying this.

He said: “The lost revenue for the industry could be in the hundreds of millions, possibly as high as $1bn.” He added that some six million passengers would be affected if the shutdown of European airports continues. “It will take days to restore schedules, even if the scare is called off today,” stated Bloomberg, quoting Capa’s recent report.

Ash cloud brings in the cash for UAE hotels

Bindu Suresh Rai

As the volcanic ash cloud continues to create havoc, the biggest casualty in this disaster is the opening of the Armani Hotel Dubai, which has been delayed again with flights being grounded across Europe.

In a statement to Emirates Business, a spokesperson from Armani Hotel said: “Due to the unforeseen closure of European Aerospace and the subsequent cancellation of international flights, the much anticipated grand opening of Armani Hotel Dubai has been postponed from April 21 to April 27.”

It has been learned that designer, Giorgio Armani, along with a lieu of celebrities, were stranded in Europe, prompting local partners Emaar Properties to delay the opening of the Burj Khalifa property by six days.

However, a silver lining has emerged for the UAE’s hospitality industry at large, which is seeing 100 per cent occupancy levels in some cases as hotels struggle to accommodate air passengers stranded in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Premier Inn is running at full occupancy across all three properties, as the budget chain takes in passengers from Emirates airline, which it partners with.

Similarly, hospitality giants Jumeirah Group, Rotana, Rezidor and the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) are also witnessing a surge in room bookings.

“We are completely booked across all three properties, however, the situation updates every 24 hours,” Darroch Crawford, Managing Director for Premier Inn Middle East, told Emirates Business. “However, there is no doubt hotels are taking advantage of the situation through rates, bookings and their F&B outlets.”

Similarly, Al Bustan Rotana Hotel is enjoying a 94 per cent occupancy. Helena Al Sayed, Director of Marketing and Communications for the hotel, said: “We are running at 94 per cent occupancy, with almost 30 per cent of that being passengers that have been stranded at the airport and those who have extended their stay due to their flights being cancelled.” Meanwhile, IHG sales teams have approached airlines to take in passengers.

Christian Pertl, Director of Sales and Marketing, IHG Dubai Festival City, said: “Our sales force proactively contacted all the major airlines to offer as much support as possible – this included calls to Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates. We accommodated as many rooms as we could offer.”

However, Pertl added that they did not notice a definite surge in occupancy as their existing properties, InterContinental Dubai Festival City and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, were already at near capacity.

While some hotels had to turn away passengers because they were full, a spokesperson from Jumeirah Group said: “We have been able to accommodate all our guests that have been affected within Jumeirah Hotels.”

Hotels in the capital were also enjoying the boom, with Rezidor Group’s Park Inn and Radisson Blu Abu Dhabi, Yas Island, completely booked out.

Torbjorn Bodin, General Manager Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas Island, said: “Both our properties here are fully occupied, with the make-up of the residents being largely those that were in-house guests before the flight situation arose and are now unable to leave for Europe.”

In a note to clients on Tuesday, Sachin Gupta, analyst, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, said, “The company (Jet) expects the supply and demand situation to stay tight in FY11 and the overall load factor to improve by 4 percentage points. Jet Airways expects yield to improve by 10-15% in the first quarter of FY11. International operations have also stabilised with most routes breaking even.”

Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer of airline consultancy firm, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), backed this forecast saying his company had predicted Jet’s turnaround in January itself.

“We had said in our report in January that Jet will record net profit in FY11, which means it will have net profit in Q1, Q3 and Q4,” he said.

Kaul said there are several factors fueling the full service carrier’s profitability.

“First, we expect a strong domestic demand, which will push up traffic growth to over 15%. International sector will also grow at 10-12%. Overall yield is expected to grow 5-7% in FY11. In Q3, it will grow at 10%.”

The Capa’s India chief said Jet’s prudence in cutting capacity and cost base has helped it fly towards profitability. “On the international routes, it reduced capacity by using A330 instead of B777 and on many routes it has taken off A330 and is using A320,” he said.

A few days back, the company said it is close to breaking even on its US routes.

In December last year, the company had achieved break-even at the operating level.

According to an analyst with a domestic research firm, buoyant local demand and stabilisation of operations on the international sector will help Jet.

The airline has also been able to improve its fleet utilisation after dry-leasing three aircraft to Thai Airways and four to Turkish Airways. The company will earn over $1 million per aircraft per month through aircraft lease deals.

“This should improve overall fleet utilisation in international operations and result in cost savings of $27 million in this fiscal,” Gupta wrote in his report.

“The company’s domestic passenger traffic is likely to grow 12-15% in FY11 and industry supply is seen growing at 6% (net addition of 12-14 fleet in the overall industry by Spicejet and Indigo). This should lead to an overall improvement in the load factor,” he added.

The HSBC analyst said Jet expects a 76% load factor for domestic operations in FY11 and 83% in international operations.
His note also said that the company is seeing very strong advance bookings for April and May and was expecting a load factor of 80% for the first quarter.

For tickets booked beyond 14 days, yields are already up by 5-6%. The company expects yield to improve by 10-15% for the same period.

In 2008-09, the company’s losses were Rs 470 crore but in the December quarter it made net profit of slightly over Rs 100 crore.
Capa’s Kaul said Indian airline industry, excluding state-owned Air India, would log in a profit of $250-300 million in the domestic sector in FY11.

With a large number of people of Indian origin living in and/or working in South Africa, as well as its emergence as a leading business destination and wealth of tourist attractions, the new route opens up an untapped potential for India’s premier international airline. Johannesburg will be the twenty-second destination in Jet Airways’ international network.

The Airbus 330-200 will fly non-stop to the Rainbow Nation. The spacious full-length wide-bodied twin aisle cabin of the A330-200 is configured in two classes, with 30 seats in Première (Business Class) and 190 seats in Economy. The airline’s Première guests will enjoy a 180 degree flat bed with lumbar support and massage systems, oversized table, laptop power, telephony, SMS, Email and live text news to deliver a flying office, state-of-the-art On-Demand Panasonic In-Flight Entertainment (IFE), as well as the finest in-flight dining and service.

Flight 9W 242 will depart Mumbai at 0205 hrs, arriving in Johannesburg at 0735 hrs. On the return leg, flight 9W 241 will depart Johannesburg at 1100 hrs, arriving in Mumbai at 2330 hrs. Return Economy fares from various Indian cities start from INR 35,595 (approx £490) while return Première (Business) Class fares start from INR 116,020 (approx £1,600).

Jet Airways currently flies to New York (both JFK and Newark), Toronto, Brussels, London (Heathrow), Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah, Sharjah and Riyadh.

Besides being a connecting medium, the Jet Airways communities – www.facebook.com/jetairways and www.twitter.com/jetairways – will also provide guests with news updates about flight schedules, new customer programs, route additions, services and special offers, etc.

Mr. Nikos Kardassis, Acting CEO, Jet Airways, said, “Social Media is fast gaining prominence in a wired world and these initiatives would help Jet Airways in actively engaging and interacting with all our stakeholders. Our guests and customers will find these channels especially helpful as it will provide them with access to real-time information, leading to significantly enhanced customer satisfaction. Our presence on Facebook and Twitter will also help in generating important feedback that would help us improve the overall experience for our guests.”

The airline, bettering its growth figures in November 2009, has reported a 53 per cent surge in domestic and 28 per cent surge in international passenger traffic for December 2009, vis-a-vis the same period last year, Jet Airways said in a statement on Tuesday.

The average seat factor for international operations for December stood at 84.9 per cent, reflecting growing passenger demand on the international sector.

Jet had registered a growth of 33 per cent in domestic and 19 per cent in international passenger traffic in November last year.

Jet Konnect and Jetlite, airlines’ all-economy arm, had registered surge of 23 per cent in passenger traffic at an average seat factor of 81.5 per cent in December last year.

Jet carried about 3,67,246 passengers in December last year compared to 2,86,711 in December 2008 on international sector. The airlines carried 3,25,869 to various international destinations in the month of November last year.

Two of its members said the National Aviators’ Guild, or NAG, the union of pilots working for Jet Airways, was considering approaching the Bombay high court to secure a stay against the November deregistration order of the Mumbai labour office.

“The reasons cited by the labour commissioner for deregistration are belittling our intelligence and on frivolous grounds,” one NAG member said on condition of anonymity without giving more details.

Among the reasons cited by the commissioner were a union member’s card not bearing the company’s name and another member not submitting his identity card, the NAG member said.

“Another frivolous reason was an office-bearer had hurriedly submitted the documents without proper scrutiny,” he said.

N.V. Palve, deputy labour commissioner of Maharashtra, said the deregistration was done according to labour laws.

“I have no intimation about Jet pilots’ decision to challenge it in court. But the deregistration has been done on the grounds of misrepresentation of facts. I have issued a detailed order on what are the misrepresented facts and what are the requirements as per the law,” Palve said.

Sanjay Asher, senior partner with Mumbai-based law firm Crawford Bayley and Co., said the registrar had a valid case if he could prove deregistration was done because of misrepresentation of facts. “But it all depends on what the pilots have disclosed before the registrar to get registration. Pilots can prove their case in the court by filing an affidavit,” Asher said.

A Jet Airways spokesperson said the company was not aware of NAG’s plans to challenge its deregistration.

But if NAG goes ahead with the plan, it would be defying a September agreement between the union and the airline management. NAG had then vowed not to pursue re-registration as a union if it was deregistered, as the NAG member quoted above conceded.

The second NAG member added: “Yes, we would not have pursued if the deregistration was on genuine grounds. In this case, the labour commissioner has cited reasons which are challenging our intelligence.”

The agreement was finalized on 13 September, after Jet Airways suffered massive losses due to a five-day pilot strike, the first in the history of the 18-year-old airline. The strike led to nearly 1,300 domestic and 200 international flights being cancelled and a revenue loss of around $16 million (Rs72.6 crore).

The timing of the strike was unfortunate for the airline. The July-September period is typically slack for domestic airlines. The pilots’ action widened its quarterly loss to Rs406.69 crore from a loss of Rs384.53 crore a year earlier. Income from operations fell 34% to Rs2,020.11 crore.

Finally, the pilots and the management agreed that “a consultative group or body (will) be put in place which would have at least two directors from the board of Jet, the chief executive officer and two representatives of the pilots on one side, and would have five representatives of the pilots on the other, so that a continuous process of dialogue can be in place”.

Jet Airways and NAG had said in a joint statement: “All issues that are causing concern to the pilots and all future issues would be discussed and resolved through the mechanism.”

Now that mechanism is under threat. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Jet—just when it had begun its flight back to normalcy.

“With the macro-environment turning optimistic and the cost curve of the industry at its bare bones, we expect cash losses of Jet to get limited, marking the beginning of a turnaround,” domestic brokerage IDFC-SSKI Securities Ltd said in a December report.

An analyst with another brokerage said any move that imperils the NAG-Jet Airways agreement could hurt the airline. “The action plan of NAG and its repercussions are not clear at this point in time. If the relationship between pilots and the management worsens in future, this could be troublesome for Jet Airways,” said the analyst, who did not want to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Jet Airways, which has a fleet strength of 111 aircraft and operates in excess of 410 flights daily, had a market share of 27%, according to November data.