IndiaPost.com - Jet set to go SF-India by Feb ’08

India Post News Service

SAN FRANCISCO: After its spectacular success on the India-US/Canada East Coast sector, Jet Airways is all set to launch its West Coast flights. The modalities are being worked out and Jet Airways is expected to commence flights by mid to late Feb 2008.

Based in Mumbai, Jet Airways operates domestic and international services with over 355 daily flights to 44 destinations across the country and 11 overseas. Incorporated as an "air taxi" operator 1992, Jet started commercial airline operations May 1993 with a fleet of four Boeing 737-300 aircraft. It began international operations to Sri Lanka in March 2004. With main base in Mumbai, its other major hubs are at Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Brussels, Belgium.

Jet Airways' 53 destinations include most of the big cities in India and nine cities outside India. International destinations include Kathmandu, Colombo, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Heathrow, Brussels, Newark, New York and Toronto, Canada. Jet Airways was the first private airline in India to fly to international destinations.

It started international operations in March 2004 between Chennai and Colombo after it had been cleared by the Government of India to operate scheduled services to international destinations. Subsequently, a second route linking Mumbai with Colombo and a new route between Delhi and Kathmandu were added.

The latter commenced in May 2004. On December 29, 2004 the Government of India decided in principle to permit privately owned Indian carriers to operate scheduled air services to any international destination world-wide with the exception of the Gulf countries, i.e., Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as Pakistan. They would fly to the Middle East from Kochi, Thrivananthapuram, Kozhikode (Calicut), Mumbai and Delhi.

Jet Airways sought to take maximum advantage of this ruling by adding new international scheduled routes to destinations within the flying range of its growing fleet of "Next Generation" Boeing 737-700/800 series narrowbodied jets, such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. This first led to a decision to lease three Airbus A340-300E widebodies from South African Airways to enable it to commence non-stop flights to London Heathrow in the UK and to subsequently place a large order for a fleet of brand-new Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300ER widebodied airliners to permit further expansion, especially to additional destinations in Europe and North America.

In 2006 Jet Airways had international services to Kathmandu, Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, operating from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Amritsar. Jet Airways has begun thrice-weekly operations from Amritsar to London Heathrow to serve the UK's large Sikh community. It began serving Amritsar on August 4, 2006. This service, which was initially operated at a frequency of three flights a week, is now operated six times a week. Jet Airways has daily flights to Bangkok from Delhi and Kolkata effective January.

Jet Airways also started flights to Hyderabad, from Mumbai more than two years back. Jet Airways started three times-a-week service from Ahmedabad to London Heathrow April 3, 2007 to cater to the travel requirements of the ethnic Gujarati community in the UK. The airline is using its recently delivered Airbus A330-200s on both the Amritsar and Ahmedabad services while "Next Generation" Boeing 737-800s are used on all Bangkok sectors. It took Jet Airways more than two years to get the necessary clearances from US authorities to fly to the United States.

The US State Department gave the go ahead November, 2006.Currently Jet operates flights from the East Coast .Flights between Newark and Delhi began Aug 05 followed by Toronto – Chennai Sept 05 and JFK - Mumbai on Oct 28. These are daily flights and go via Brussels. What is so unique about their service is that all India bound and North America bound flights reach Brussels at about the same time. This makes transfer to connecting flights relatively easy.

A passenger bound for Chennai from Newark can transfer to the Toronto flight at Brussels in minimum time. Jet Airways is also considering starting flights to North America from Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Kolkata apart from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. In an exclusive interview with India Post, Jet Airways Regional President ( USA / Canada ) Zainul Aljunied spoke in detail about the airline and its future plans. He expects the SFO flights to start by end Feb 2008. “We are still working on the final details and this will be a daily flight to Bombay with a stopover at either Hong Kong or Shanghai.

We still are working to finalise that,” he said. The airline will use their state of the art Boeing 777 planes for this route which is expected to be the fastest connection to India from the US West coast, spanning the distance trans Pacific in about 18 hours. The Jet Airways Boeing 777 is a wide body aircraft, bigger than the 747 and has a capacity of 400 depending on the seat configuration.In the case of Jet, their plane is the Boeing 777 ER with a capacity of eight first class cabins, 30 Premiere class seats and 274 economy seats.Jet is perhaps the only airline offering a configuration of nine abreast (and not ten) in economy.

Aljunied also brushed aside any suggestions of Jet eating into Air India’s marketshare. “We see Air India as our partners” he said. As for the fares, Aljunied reiterated that Jet’s fares are extremely competetive and at par with other carriers on the routes they fly. “We are an extremely affordable airline with the most modern fleet and the best service and food” he said. Zainul Aljunied is no rookie in the Airline business.Born and raised in Singapore, he started his carreer with the erstwhile Mayan Airlines,MSA and Singapore Airways.

He was the first manager of SQ in California way back in 1978 when SQ launched its service to the US West Coast- “California here we come.” Aljunied was the Regional VP for SQ (Mid East and Africa) based in Dubai.He retired after 43 years and joined JetAirways. Likewise Jet Airways Sales Manager Manoj Shailendra is also no stranger in the business. With over 25 years experience, Manoj is a veteran with stints in leading international airlines like Air India. Manoj sees a very bright future for Jet’s West Coast operations.

“There is tremendous scope for growth on this sector…in due course we hope to launch direct services between California and Amritsar and Ahmedabad,” he said. Manoj is the son of the legendary Bollywood lyricist Shailendra, best remembered for songs he penned for Raj Kapoor movies like Awara, Mera Naam Joker, Barsaat etc to mention a few. The Jet Airways plans will be a big boon for the Indian community in California considering the fact that Punjabis and Gujaratis form the majority of the Indian expatriate community here.

As for on board luxury, Jet takes it all. At Jet Airways, the First Class experience starts even before you board the plane. Four hours before your flight takes off you’ll be contacted by their staff to coordinate your arrival at the airport. You’ll be greeted by the airline concierge who’ll escort you through immigration to the exclusive lounge.

Meanwhile the valet will check-in your luggage. Even your immigration card will be filled in and ready for you to pass through immigration. Jet’s all-new First Class gives you your own private space in the sky. A private suite that lavishes you with a host of luxuries, from fine dining to a cozy flat bed to take your flying experience to incredible new heights. The dual sliding doors shut for you to create your own individual suite, offering unrivalled privacy and more personal space than one can imagine. There’s a private wardrobe too.

So you’ll arrive in style no matter where your travels take you. Not to be left behind is the Premier Class .The redesigned Premier Class cabin is completely redesigned to give you more space. Space to work, relax or sleep. The new cabin now features a revolutionary lie-fiat bed, surrounding you with a wall of privacy and personal space.

Jet’s Economy class features advanced ergonomically designed seats and in-flight entertainment system makes for a truly memorable flying experience. Jet Airways is the first airline in the world to install revolutionary seats designed to offer more space, reduce pressure on your body and give you added support, especially on long journeys.

Simply recline your backrest, and the seat bottom automatically moves into an ergonomically correct position. The airline offers a wide variety of in flight entertainment. It is the latest on demand in-flight entertainment on your huge 15.4-inch touch screen LCD. Blockbuster Hollywood and Bollywood movies, TV shows and business news are now just a click away on the in flight entertainment system. According to March 2007 available figures, Jet Airways’ share of India's domestic aviation market increased to over 43 percent (up from less than 27 percent a few months prior to March 2007), and, as of 2007, is greater than any other Indian domestic operator's market share. Jet Airways was voted as the best airline in South Asia and Central Asia region by Skytrax in 2007.