New Delhi:While markets have been rife with concerns over the adverse impact of the Jet-Etihad alliance on Air India's international operations, the national carrier may actually gain incremental traffic in the domestic arena. Currently, the country's second largest passenger carrier, Jet Airways, has drawn out a blueprint to connect 23 cities in India to Abu Dhabi to synergise operations with Etihad Airways. Such a business plan, while likely to improve profitability for Jet on international routes, may limit its footprint at home as the planned network expansion is not feasible with the fleet at its disposal.
Jet will require short-haul Boeing 737s to feed the traffic to Abu Dhabi, Etihad's home base and hub. It does have plans to induct 54 aircraft over the next three to five years but the initial demand would have to be met by diverting its existing fleet of 57 such aircraft.
Data available indicate that the shift in Jet's focus from domestic operations has already started to happen. The airline's share in the domestic market fell to 24.6 per cent in September from 26.2 per cent at the start of the year. The reasons for this change in focus are not just operational but also financial. In 2012-13, Jet lost over Rs 1,100 crore in domestic operations but earned around Rs 400 crore on international routes. An overhaul in operational structure, thus, would mean more profits.
Read News In Full 23/10/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard
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