With the government withdrawing Kingfisher Airlines'
international flying rights and domestic slots, the Jet Airways has approached
the Aviation Ministry to acquire six of the vacant slots, according to sources.
"We have
applied to the government to acquire six slots from Mumbai. Of these, we are
looking at four domestic and two international routes," Jet Airways
sources told PTI here.
Out of the six
slots from Mumbai, Jet has sought three morning slots and remaining three
evening ones, they said adding, "the destinations are being worked
out."
Last week, the
government had withdrawn all domestic and international flying slots of
Kingfisher Airlines, which remains grounded since October 1 last, with
immediate effect and decided to allot them to other domestic airlines.
The Vijay
Mallya-promoted carrier's flying licence also expired last December, which
though can be revived.
Besides operating
on domestic routes, Kingfisher also used to operate to Britain (seven flights a
week), the UAE (21 flights per week), Thailand (21 weekly flights), Nepal
(seven), Bangladesh (14 a week), Sri Lanka (35 per week), Hong Kong (14 a week)
and Singapore (7).
The withdrawal of
these slots has made available approximately 25,000 seats per week for other
carriers to these eight countries.
Interestingly, the
Naresh-Goyal promoted Jet Airways is seeking these slots after selling its all
three slots at the premier London's Heathrow airport to the Abu Dhabi-based
Etihad for $70 million last week, in a move that may bring its ongoing
discussions with the Gulf carrier for stake sale closer to fruition.
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