Jet Airways may soon be allowed to fly to China. It would thus be able to launch its Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flight and enjoy a headstart over rival Kingfisher Airlines, which plans to fly non-stop from Bangalore to San Francisco by August. India will allow the Chinese cargo carrier Great Wall Airlines to fly to Indian cities, as a reciprocatory gesture. | |
| The approval came during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ongoing visit to China. Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal is a part of the business delegation. |
| |
| Jet has been waiting to kick-start its flights to the US West Coast by flying over the Pacific, which is shorter by a couple of hours than flying via Europe and offers better yields, said sources. |
| |
| The clearance is the first step for Jet to establish operations in China. Jet will now have to apply for slots and set up a local station, which could take longer in China (typically, it takes six weeks to set up a local station). Experts said a bulk of the West Coast-bound traffic constitutes IT-related business personnel and two-and-half hours could make a difference. |
| |
| Jet is likely to fly a Boeing 777 (312 seats) on the Shanghai-San Francisco route and sell 15-20 per cent of the seats to people getting off in China and uplift an equal number of people from China. |
| |
| Flying via Europe can assure volumes, but yields could be lower as airlines have to cope with entrenched players such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and KLM. |
| |
|
| |
