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Jet, Kingfisher look abroad to slash domestic losses
Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are aiming at improving bottomlines by expanding their overseas operations to relatively profitable routes, which help them subsidise the ailing domestic business hit by a demand crunch and high costs, reports Lalatendu Mishra.
Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are aiming at improving bottomlines by expanding their overseas operations to relatively profitable routes, which help them subsidise the ailing domestic business hit by a demand crunch and high costs.
The airlines have decided to divert a chunk of their full service capacity in comparatively profitable international sectors. Jet Airways is adding four new flights while Kingfisher is planning eight new overseas sectors.
Jet Airways is starting a flight from Mumbai to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Tuesday. A flight to Riyadh will be added soon, it said.
“We are operating a hub and spoke model out of Mumbai and Delhi for better utilization of our fleet and to provide instant connectivity” said Raj Sivakumar, vice president (revenue management), Jet Airways.
Jet is also starting a second daily flight in the Mumbai- Bangkok sector and a flight linking Hyderabad and Dubai from mid-August.
Kingfisher is starting new international flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
“The plan to launch these new services is consistent with our goal of redeploying capacity on routes with better yields as compared to domestic sectors,” said a Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson.
