Indian carrier Jet Airways has revealed ambitious plans for its operations from Dubai International Airport.
As the airline launched daily services from Dubai to both Mumbai and New Delhi on August 23, chairman Naresh Goyal revealed there were already plans to up the Mumbai operation to double daily while flights from the emirate to Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochi, Calicut, Trivandrum and possibly Bangalore, were on the cards if approval was granted by the UAE and Indian governments.
Not only that, but Goyal said Jet Airways' subsidiary low-fares airline, JetLite, would look to serve key destinations in the Gulf, particularly Dubai.
"Dubai is not only one of the most exciting cities in the world, but also has been traditionally a very popular business, employment and leisure destination," he said.
"Demand for a premiere service on the India-Dubai sector remains high and we are confident that with our superior in-flight product, world-class service and unbeatable pan-Indian connectivity we will prove extremely popular with the traveling public on this sector."
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Dubai is the sixth destination in the airline's Gulf network and the second in the UAE after Abu Dhabi. The carrier already flies to Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat and Doha to various points in India. The Dubai routes will be served by a dual-class A330-200 featuring its acclaimed herringbone-configured Première (business class) cabin and its new economy class cabin.
With so many Dubai flights in the pipeline, Goyal revealed that Jet Airways had teamed up with Emirates Airline to ensure passengers could fly seamlessly with both airlines.
"We are already in talks about codeshare agreements and aligning our frequent flyer programmes," he said.
Jet Airways is also looking to connect Saudi Arabia to its network - 18 international and 42 domestic - and will operate services to Riyadh from October, followed by Jeddah at a later date.
Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 85 aircraft and will receive three addition two-class A330s and one more Boeing 777-300ER by May 2009 followed by two additional 777-300ERs by early 2011.
Goyal said Jet Airways aimed to provide "better standards than Singapore Airlines" and said its people were its key asset: "Everyone can provide the hardware, but not everyone has the soft skills that are in our system," he said. "It's in our blood to provide good service," he concluded.
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