Executives divided on impact of Jet’s entry into West Asia routes

Mumbai: Jet Airways will operate flights to destinations in West Asia starting 5 January and while some executives in the airline industry expect the company’s entry to trigger a price war, others do not.
The only Indian carriers flying to West Asia currently are Air India, Indian Airlines, and low-fare airline Air India Express, all owned by the state-owned National Aviation Company of India Ltd, or Nacil, and even these carriers use less than 60% of their entitlement on such routes.
West Asia has a large number of Indian migrants, and flights to the region account for one third of the revenues of Nacil. “... I don’t think that Jet will go for an aggressive fare war. Instead it would possibly compete with service levels,” said a Nacil executive who did not wish to be identified.
The pricing, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO of Jet Airways India Ltd,said, would be “decided on a case-by-case basis” and “service” would be the company’s “main strength”.
However, Ajay Prakash, general secretary with the Travel Agents Federation of India or Tafi, said there could be a shake-up in fares in the sector as Jet could come up with introductory prices.
Arup Sen, executive director with tour operator Cox & Kings India Ltd, said introductory fares could be cheaper than existing fares.
Experience on other international sectors where Jet has launched flights in the past few years suggest that fares are unlikely to drop.
11/12/07 P.R.Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2007, Jet Airways Dec 2007, New Dec 2007