The Hindu Business Line : Jet Airways begins Delhi-Kathmandu flight

JET Airways that launched a daily flight between Delhi and Kathmandu on Friday is evaluating the option of not only launching flights from all its major hubs, but also operating a second daily flight between the capitals of the two countries.

"We are evaluating whether it is viable for us to operate flights from Kolkata and Mumbai. Besides, we are also evaluating whether to operate a second daily frequency between Delhi and Kathmandu," the airline's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, said. He added that the airline was also planning to add a larger aircraft on the route.

The daily Delhi-Kathmandu flight will provide immediate forenoon connections to passengers from Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore as would the return flight, airline officials said.

The Jet CEO said that the airline hoped to garner at least one-third of the market between Delhi and Kathmandu, a route which attracts close to 2,70,000 passengers. The private sector airline hopes to operate on the sector with a passenger load of more than 70 per cent.

The air traffic between India and Nepal is currently served by three major airlines, namely, Indian Airlines, Royal Nepal Airlines and Jet Airways.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Tourism Board plans to tie up with Jet Airways to launch "sales missions" in different parts of India and attract more tourists.

"We will be launching sales missions in different cities, including Ahemdabad, Mumbai and Chandigarh. This will be a collaborative effort between Jet Airways and the Nepal Tourism Board and there will definitely be some very attractive packages which will be available," the Board's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Tek Bahadur Dangi, said.

However, the airline has no plans to operate flights connecting more than one destination in the South Asian regional grouping, the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC).

Addressing the press conference, the airline's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Peter Luethi, said that with the current fleet of aircraft the airline's plan was to connect only India with different countries in the SAARC region.

"In the second phase, the airline will look at operating flights which connect between the various SAARC nations also," he said.

In reply to a question on whether a change of Government at the Centre will affect the airline, Mr Wolfgang said that it was too premature to comment on this just yet. "We will have to wait for a new Government to be in place and the civil aviation policy. Naturally, we will be happy if we are allowed further access than just the SAARC region," Mr Wolfgang said.