Ask Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways, what is his agenda? Pat will come the reply, to position Jet Air among Asia's top five airlines by 2010 in terms of size and service, and also make it a global force to reckon with.
Now with mega-merger with Sahara finally through Jet is well on it's way to fulfill its ambition and it will put the airline on a collision course with the government owned Air India.
Jet is acquiring 20 wide-bodied aircraft and 10 narrow-bodied Boeings that will complete delivery by 2011. Jetlite (formerly Air Sahara) will acquire 10 more aircraft with delivery due to be completed by 2011.
In terms of turnover, the government airline will be much larger than the private one - $4 billion (against $3.5 billion) to Jet-Jetlite's $2.5 billion ($2 billion at present).
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Yet by next year, Jet-Jetlite will cover more destinations than A-I-Indian. This will translate into a passenger load factor of 70 per cent, compared to 65 per cent for the government-owned carriers.
But where Jet-Jetlite will score most is in terms of manpower efficiencies. It will operate the same number of aircraft on more routes with approximately 35 per cent less manpower than A-I-Indian.
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Jetlite, which is being positioned as a value carrier, is expected to offer extremely competitive rates in this sector to compete with Air-India Express, A-I's low-cost international carrier.
Jet also recently announced plans to launch direct flights to Brussels this summer, launching itself as a direct rival to Air India on flights between India and Europe.
Jet Airways said the Belgian capital would be its European hub, linking up with Brussels Airlines to connect to other parts of Europe, North America and Africa.
Daily direct flights from Brussels to Mumbai and New York area's Newark airport would start on August 5, with another daily service from Brussels to Delhi and Toronto starting later in the year.
It said it wanted to run up to 10 daily flights via Brussels to cities in India and North America and would seek government approval to operate from Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Chennai to Los Angeles, Chicago and New York's JFK airport, via Brussels.
Chairman of Jet Airways India, Naresh Goyal, poses in front of a Jet Airways plane after the signing of a memorandum for Jet Airways new European hub at Zaventem (Belgium) airport.
Photograph: Herwig Vergult/AFP/Getty Images
