Third airline flies out as passenger count drops

Calcutta: Following the flight path of Royal Jordanian Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, Jetstar Asia, the low-cost carrier to southeast Asia, has announced withdrawal of Calcutta operations from May 1.
Sources attribute the airline’s decision to poor flight occupancy — 40 per cent, against the break-even target of 75 per cent.
Chong Phit Lian, CEO of Jetstar Asia and Valuair, said on Monday: “Affected passengers will be offered a full refund or a change in itinerary to the higher-value Bangalore-Singapore sector.”
Low occupancy had earlier felled Royal Jordanian Airlines, which had been flying out of Calcutta for the past 18 years. From a consistent 65 to 70 per cent, occupancy dropped to 35-40 per cent last year.
The official reason for the pull-out of Malaysia Airlines was a funds crunch. But aviation circles also blame the decision on the airline’s switch from the Airbus 330-200 aircraft to the smaller Boeing 737-800 at a time when passenger traffic to Southeast Asia was picking up.
Despite the airlines flying away from the city, British Airways is planning to increase the frequency of Calcutta-London flights from thrice a week to six times. Thai Airways is planning to increase the frequency from five to seven times a week and Singapore Airlines from four to five times a week.
18/04/06 Calcutta Telegraph

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