Jet offers special fares

Ashwini Phadnis

NEW DELHI, Nov. 7

WITH passenger loads on several sectors picking up, Jet Airways has introduced special restricted fares for economy class travel on the Mumbai-Kolkata, Mumbai-Chennai and Mumbai-Hyderabad circuits which will be available from November 10 till December 31.

The airline has also revised downwards the fares on the Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram sector which comes into effect from November 16. The one-way journey in business class will now cost Rs 17,515, while an economy class seat will now cost Rs 11,475.

The special restricted fares will be Rs 6,540 for travel between Mumbai-Kolkata, Rs 4,590 for travel between Mumbai-Chennai, and Mumbai-Hyderabad will now cost Rs 3,825. Sources said that tickets already issued on the existing fares for travel between the cities may be revised without any additional charge before the journey is undertaken.

Meanwhile, the airline is to start a third frequency on the Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi sector from November 19 besides restarting services on the Delhi-Ludhiana-Delhi sector from November 21. While the third service to Kolkata is to be operated with a Boeing 737 aircraft the Ludhiana service is to be operated with an ATR 72-500 aircraft.

The airlines had, on October 22, 2001, started a twice-daily service on the Delhi-Vadodara sector besides offering a daily connection between Delhi-Jodhpur. Besides, the airline has also added an additional frequency on the Mumbai-Goa sector which is to operate five times a week except on Fridays and Sundays.

The airlines, which like other domestic operators has seen a drop in passenger traffic in the post September-11 period has been witnessing a steady increase in passenger loads in the post-Dussera period. It may be recalled that after the untoward incidents in the US on September 11, the airlines industry worldwide had reported a fall in passenger traffic.

Jet which started operations in May 1993 has a fleet of new Boeing 737 aircraft and modern turbo prop ATR 72-500 aircraft.