Speaking to Business Standard, Jet Airways' Chairman Naresh Goyal also outlined his plans for two of Air India's key markets "" the Gulf and the US. "We are looking to fly to Dubai in June. As per the bilateral discussions held last week, the number of seats allotted to Indian carriers have been hiked to 54,000 a week from 31,000 a week. We have asked for a total of 15,000 seats a week to be allotted to Jet Airways and JetLite." |
Jet will be operating flights to Dubai from New Delhi and Mumbai. Taking on Air India's other strategic market, Goyal also announced the date for the launch of the airline's Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flight.
"We are targeting a launch date of June 14 to fly into Shanghai. We have the necessary go-aheads from both the governments. All we are awaiting is the slots to be cleared," said Goyal.
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With this flight in place, Jet Airways will become the only airline to fly to the American west coast from India via China. The airline also boasts that at 18 hours, this Boeing 777-300 ER operation will be one of shortest to the US from India.
Speaking about Jet's plans for the Gulf he said, "We will be introducing Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabian in the next few weeks. We hope to become the first choice carrier for passengers on this route," he added. Presently Jet flies to Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha and Abu Dhabi.
Also, in what can be termed as another move to take on the Indian flag carrier joining the Star Alliance, Jet Airways is rapidly tying up with foreign airlines. Jet recently announced a tie-up with Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways' frequent flyer programme, Asia Miles.
"Similarly, we are in talks with Emirates for our Dubai operations, Etihad for our flights into Abu Dhabi, Qatar Airways for Doha and also with Oman Air," says Goyal.