In a major initiative to provide more choices to its passengers and reward members of its frequent flier programme, Jet Airways has forged an alliance with Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic to offer facilities on a reciprocal basis.
The partnership would offer Jet Airways' JetPrivilege members the benefit of accessing a choice of destinations on the Virgin Atlantic network. Similarly, Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club members would be able to tap into Jet Airways vast domestic network, besides the various international destinations served by Jet Airways.
Jet Airways said in a statement that JetPrivilege members would now be able to earn and redeem JPMiles on all Virgin Atlantic flights to over 34 destinations worldwide, including North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club members would be able to earn and redeem their miles on Jet Airways with over 355 daily flights to 44 destinations in India or to international destinations such as New York (Newark and JFK), Toronto, London, Brussels, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Colombo, Kathmandu and Dhaka.
Virgin Atlantic operates daily flights between Mumbai and Delhi to London Heathrow. Jet connects Mumbai, Delhi, Amritsar and Ahmedabad to London Heathrow through daily flights. Though both the airlines compete in the Delhi-Mumbai and London sectors, there are several sectors where this relationship would prove beneficial.
{{/usCountry}}Virgin Atlantic operates daily flights between Mumbai and Delhi to London Heathrow. Jet connects Mumbai, Delhi, Amritsar and Ahmedabad to London Heathrow through daily flights. Though both the airlines compete in the Delhi-Mumbai and London sectors, there are several sectors where this relationship would prove beneficial.
{{/usCountry}}Prior to this, Jet Airways had entered into similar partnerships with Air France, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Gulf Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Northwest Airlines, Qantas, South African Airways and SWISS. It also has an alliance with British Airways, but only for the redemption of JPMiles.
Recently, Jet Airways has also signed partnerships with several international hotel chains, banks and car rental companies.
The number of alliances have gone up in November and December, as Jet Airways aggressively expands its base in the lucrative US markets and gets ready to begin operations into the Gulf in early January.
According to analysts, Jet Airways is trying to remain a step ahead of its immediate competitor Air India and also Kingfisher Airlines, which is getting ready to fly overseas from August 2008.