Newstrack

Jet eyes Milan, Vienna as Alitalia pulls out of India

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

After announcing plans to expand its routes to Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Shanghai and San Francisco between April and May 2008, India-based private carrier Jet Airways is now looking to make Milan or Vienna as its transit points in Italy after Alitalia's withdrawal from the Indian skies.

Speaking at a press conference in the city, Naresh Goyal, its chairman, said, "Having another hub in Europe would help passengers who find Brussels inaccessible. We also want to work with Alitalia and are in talks with the airline to either turnaround from Italy or fly further to the United States. We want to participate in the European traffic and make money."

Goyal added, "Domestic will always be our core business and we will continue to expand as Indian policies become more liberal than other countries. We want to induct 15 per cent capacity till 2010 and have a proportionate 50:50 ratio between our domestic and international business." Talking about future partnerships, he said, "I have always believed that working with national carrier Air India will help each of us gain market share of 50 per cent."

Sudheer Raghavan, the carrier's CCO, elaborated, "With the induction of our international flights, the revenue contribution from international routes rose to 37 per cent in the third quarter of the last year." Both Jet Airways and JetLite are expected to be profitable by next year, assured Goyal with reference to the rights issue coming soon. The chairman will also dilute five to ten per cent of personal stake. Nearing its 15th anniversary in May 2008, Jet is also in discussions to fly to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Dubai.