Jet Airways today became India's first private airlines to begin its services to the Gulf with the launch of its direct daily flight to Kuwait and Bahrain.
The profitable Gulf sector was till date served only by the national carriers the erstwhile Air India, Indian and Air India Express. The national carriers were so far competing with several major Gulf airlines like Emirates, Kuwait Airways, Gulf Air and Qatar Airlines.
Jet's flight (9W 572), carrying 69 passengers, left for Kuwait from Indira Gandhi International Airport this morning after being flagged off by Director General Civil Aviation Kanu Gohain.
"Keeping in mind the unmet demand of more flights in the Gulf sector, we have introduced our world class services for the passengers going to these countries," said P K Sinha, Jet Airways International Relations and Industry Affairs Vice President.
The services will be at par with Jet's premier services for the western destination, he added. Speaking about the expansion plans of the airlines, Sinha said that Jet is going to launch two new flights to Mascut and Doha (Qatar) from Calicut from January 23.
"Gulf is now growing as a tourist destination. As more and more Indians are preferring to go to these countries for holidays, there is huge demand for better connectivity, which is still unmet," he said.
The airline today also launched three other daily direct flights Kochi-Kuwait, Kochi-Baharain and Mumbai-Kuwait.
Announcing the launch of these flights, Jet Airways Commercial Executive Vice President Sudheer Raghvan said, "With a large number of Indians living and working in the Gulf, flights to these sectors constantly register high load factors."
With the launch of Kochi-Kuwait and Kochi-Bahrain flights, Jet Airways also made its first international foray out of Kerala.
The airline currently operates 355 flights daily to 55 domestic and international destinations, including New York (JFK and Newark), Toronto, Brussels, London (Heathrow), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Kathmandu and Dhaka.
Jet Airways also plans to expand its international operations to other cities in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia in phases.