Jet to expand ops, eyes more international routes

The airline will fly Boeing 777 planes to Dubai, Singapore and Amsterdam. Move will increase competition, lead to fare war

Jet Airways is deploying wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft on the Dubai, Singapore and Amsterdam routes to increase its international business.

The move is expected to  intensify competition on the Dubai and Singapore routes dominated by Emirates and Singapore Airlines leading to a fare war. Further, it will also enable Jet Airways to consolidate its presence in Amsterdam, the airline’s  new European gateway.

International operations account for over a half of Jet Airways’ revenue.

The airline is increasing its capacity on international routes following the re-entry of six Boeing 777s into its fleet. Jet Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER planes seat 346 passengers in a three-class configuration. The six planes were on lease to Etihad Airways and are returning to Jet Airways on the expiry of the lease.

At present, Jet Airways flies five times daily on the Mumbai-Dubai route with 168-seat twin-class Boeing 737 aircraft. From August 6 one of the five flights will be operated with a Boeing 777.

The airline operates twice daily between Mumbai-Singapore and from August 6 it will deploy a Boeing 777 on one of the flights.

From October it will use Boeing 777 planes on Amsterdam flights from Mumbai and Delhi, replacing the Airbus A330s.

“The introduction of Boeing 777s on the Dubai and Singapore routes will lead to a fare war because of the increase in seat capacity. Jet Airways remains popular among Indian travellers and customers will prefer flying a wide-body plane like Boeing 777 on these routes,” said Madhav Oza, managing director of Blue Star Travels.

Devesh Agarwal, editor of aviation blog Bangalore Aviation, said Jet Airways was unable to deploy its wide-body planes effectively because of a limited network.

According to him, “Filling up premium seats on the Dubai and Singapore routes is a challenge as rivals Emirates and Singapore Airlines have new cabin products. Ideally, Jet Airways should consider flying Boeing 777s non-stop between India and Australia, which will allow the airline to connect passengers between the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia.”