Jet Airways in talks with Star Alliance, SkyTeam

"We are in talks both with Star Alliance and Sky Team. Let us see what materialises. That is all I can tell you at this point of time," Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal told PTI.

Jet Airways was earlier in an advanced stage of joining Star Alliance along with Air India, whose induction into the airlines' grouping was put off primarily due to its precarious financial health.

While Star Alliance includes Air Canada, Air China, ANA, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines and operates 20,500 daily flights to 1,200 airports, SkyTeam has Aeroflot, Air France, China Eastern, Delta Airlines and KLM among others, and operates 14,700 daily flights to 958 destinations.

In an interaction on the sidelines of the 68th Annual General Meeting of the International Air Transport Association in Beijing, Goyal said Jet was also considering expanding its international operations to destinations that were "economically viable".

"We want to go to a few places in Europe and we are looking at those destinations which will make money, like Paris, Munich and Frankfurt to name a few," he said.

Currently, the airline operates flights to Brussels, Milan and London in Europe. It has, however, decided to stop its flights to New York (JFK) from September 10, though it would continue operations to Newark.

Goyal also said the tax rates in India were between 200- 300 per cent higher than those in China and some other countries and the Indian aviation industry could not grow with such taxation. (More)