The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Jet Airways to operate flights to West Asia

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Friday, Dec 28, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Jet Airways to operate flights to West Asia

Ananth Krishnan

First Indian private carrier to connect India with destinations in the Gulf

CHENNAI: Jet Airways has become the latest airline to reach out to the growing West Asia market. Starting January 5, the airline will become the first Indian private carrier to connect India with destinations in the Gulf.

Initially, it will launch two daily direct flights from Kochi to Bahrain and Kuwait as well as direct flights between Mumbai and Bahrain and New Delhi and Kuwait.

High load factor

According to Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, the airline was launching the flights in light of the “consistently high load factor” that operators to the region were currently enjoying. There are already as many as ten different operators connecting Indian cities with the Gulf, including Air India, Emirates, Kuwait Airways, Oman Air, Air Arabia, Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Gulf Air and Thai Airways. These airlines largely cater to cities in the south such as Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and Hyderabad, which are the sources of much of the labour traffic to Gulf countries.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), an aviation consultancy, describes West Asia as the “fastest growing region in the world for passengers and air cargo.” According to CAPA’s figures, West Asia recorded a 15.4 per cent increase in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, which measures the volume of air traffic, last year. By all accounts, this region is set for further growth.

Ten airports in the region are investing a total of $36.8 billion in on expansion, which will enable the region to handle an additional capacity of 318 million passengers by 2012.

For airlines like Air India, West Asian routes have been the mainstay of its international revenues – the region contributes up to 30 per cent of the airline’s total revenues. K. Venkataraman, director, Diana World Travel, says Jet will face a challenge to replicate the success of airlines like Air India, which is built on the growing popularity of Dubai as a business and holiday destination.

Jet Airways currently does not have permission from the Civil Aviation Ministry to fly to Dubai, but was hopeful of getting it soon.

It will shortly add flights to Oman from Calicut by mid-January.

“Most of the traffic is concentrated to Dubai because of its connectivity as well as attractions such as the Dubai shopping festival,” Mr. Venkataraman says. While around 80 per cent of the traffic is labour-oriented, this demographic is changing fast.

“While historically a majority of traffic is with regard to labour, we are seeing an increasingly number of tourists and business travellers, especially to Dubai,” Mr. Venkataraman adds.

Labour traffic

He says with the high saturation on Dubai routes – Air India has daily flights and Emirates double-daily – other peripheral destinations might still provide a source of opportunity. “While the leisure and business travel is comparatively very less, there is still a significant amount of labour traffic in other areas.”

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