They are all Boeing 737s?
Between Jet Airways and Jet Light, we have about 70 Boeings. Some are Airbuses. We also have some 8 ATR. By 2009, we will have 120 planes as we have already ordered 30 additional planes. Of these, 20 planes are wide-bodied 777s while 10 are Boeing 737s.
We have also ordered 10 Airbus 330s, some of which have already been delivered. Every month we are getting one plane. So by February 2008, all 10 will be delivered. Then we have 10 more options for the Airbus 330. We also have options for 10 wide-bodied 777s. We have already firmed up our options for three of these planes and we are in the process of finalizing our options for seven more for deliveries in 2012 onwards.
What will such a purchase cost?
Our order is worth $2.5 billion. Each plane could cost approximately between $40 million and $140 million as prices could vary widely.
With the delivery of all these additional planes, how would your business be impacted?
Our domestic market is growing by 40 percent. Our international business is growing by 18 to 20 percent. Our domestic revenue was $1.1 billion (2006-2007). Our total revenue was $1.4 billion. So, $300 million was our international business.
Between now and 2010, we expect the combined revenues of Jet Airways and Jet Light to rise to about $3.5 billion. Jet Airways will be $3 billion and Jet Light will be half a billion dollars.
Air Canada believes Canada-India is a difficult route. It is seasonal traffic. What has then induced you to venture on this route?
In my opinion, it is a very good route. All European airlines are flying this route -- Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, British Airways, even Emirates, etc. You have about 1.2 million Indo-Canadians and their number is growing in Canada. They are flying to India. So, there's a lot of traffic. It is a huge market.
Air Canada is a very good airline and we are going to cooperate. They will do our ground handling and we will cooperate in the frequent flyers' programme with them. Our Jet Privilege and their Aeroplan will cooperate on the frequent flyers program.
To our advantage, Jet Airways understands Indians. We know what they want in terms of food, movies, what kind of hospitality they need. Jet Airways service is Asian service. On the Toronto-New Delhi route we will provide better service than most airlines. Our fares will be very competitive. And then we will give you our network in India. You can come to Delhi and we will then fly you anywhere in India. We currently fly to 44 cities within the country.
Brussels will be our hub and from Brussels we will fly you anywhere in India -- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore -- anywhere. Similarly from any of these cities we will bring you to Toronto through Brussels. There are a lot of people from northern India, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh who can connect direct from Brussels.
Image: Jet's recently acquired Boeing 777-300ER aircraft at the Mumbai international airport, May 13, 2007. Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Which is India's first no-frills carrier?
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