The proposed Jet-Etihad Airways alliance is set to
consolidate Abu Dhabi’s position as an important aviation hub.
The Naresh
Goyal-owned Jet Airways planned to use the Abu Dhabi airport to launch new
flights to the US, Europe, as well as a few West Asian cities such as Amman,
Beirut and Baghad, airline sources said. For the new services, the airline
would use fifth-freedom rights under the air service agreement between India
and Abu Dhabi. These rights allow one-stop flights to pick up passengers from
transit points to destinations. Though the agreement between India and Abu
Dhabi, signed in 2007, offers Indian airlines fifth freedom rights, these
haven’t been used yet. Next month, Jet Airways would launch a Kochi-Abu
Dhabi-Kuwait flight, availing of that entitlement.
Currently,
Brussels (Belgium) is Jet’s hub for its US flights. As it fine-tunes its
international strategy, the airline also plans to review its plans of joining
the Lufthansa-led Star Alliance.
Jet’s big push
would depend on the civil aviation ministry, which would negotiate seat
entitlements with Abu Dhabi next week. Currently, Indian carriers are allowed
about 13,000 seats a week, under the India-Abu Dhabi agreement. Jet’s demand
for 41,000 seats a week till 2016 has led to concern among the GVK and GMR
groups, which run the Mumbai and Delhi airports, respectively. These groups are
worried a large number of seats for the Jet-Etihad alliance would undermine
their positions, as Indian carriers haven’t been able to compete against large
international airlines. The negotiations would also lead to Etihad expanding
its presence in India.
Jet has, however,
justified its requirement. The total origin-destination traffic between India
and Abu Dhabi is 1.5 million a year; that between India and UAE (which includes
Dubai and Sharjah) is 6.5 million a year. “We are looking at the UAE as a
whole. The differences between Dubai and Abu Dhabi are blurred, with excellent
road connectivity; passengers can take flights to Abu Dhabi and be connected to
other parts in the UAE by road,” said an airline source.
The Jet source
said the airports at Delhi and Mumbai would continue to be part of Jet
network’s strategy. “Currently, 18 per cent of all our international revenue
comes from sixth-freedom (onward) traffic via Mumbai and Delhi. This includes
routes such as London-Delhi-Bangkok and London-Delhi-Kathmandu,” he said,
adding most of the proposed long-haul flights would originate from the airports
at Delhi and Mumbai.
Currently, about
60 per cent of Jet’s revenue is accounted for by international operations; it
is expected this would rise further. The airline uses a fleet of narrow-bodied
Boeing 737s and wide-bodied Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s for its international
routes. It plans to use wide-bodied aircraft for flights from metro cities in
India to Abu Dhabi and beyond, and narrow-bodied planes for flights from
smaller cities.
According to Jet’s
estimates, 40 per cent of passengers on its India-Abu Dhabi flights would be
accounted for by origin-destination traffic. “We believe 90 per cent of our
onward traffic in Abu Dhabi would be on Jet Airways planes,” the source said.
Jet has a code sharing alliance with Etihad on the Abu-Dhabi-Paris route and is
looking to extend code sharing to other routes, too. This would enable access
to feed traffic from its partner airline.
Etihad plans to
acquire 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. However, the deal has been stuck,
owing to the Abu Dhabi government’s concern on its investment in India. Early
this week, civil aviation ministry sources said they expected the deal to be
concluded in a month.
Jet has asked
permission to start/increase flights to Abu Dhabi from—Mumbai, Delhi,
Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Thiruvanathapuram, Hyderabad, Kozhikode,
Amritsar, Mangalore, Goa, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kochi, Jaipur, Chandigarh,
Varanasi, Trichy, Coimbatore and Pune.
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