Jet Airways May Head Down Under

Monday, 30th September 2013 at 05:00am

Etihad Airways is egging on Jet Airways to fly direct to Australia to tap the growing market between India and Down Under. Etihad is trying to influence Jet following its stake purchase of the latter recently.

Currently, Air India is the only airline serving the routes between India and Australia. The Indian flag carrier commenced direct flights over a month ago from Delhi to Melbourne and Sydney.

Though Singapore Airlines doesn't have direct flight between India and Australia, it somehow manages to capture substantial market from both countries with its seamless connections from both directions through its hub in Singapore.

Banking on its partnership with Jet Airways, James Hogan, Etihad CEO, is very keen on opening direct routes between India and Australia with Jet. He hopes to compete directly with Air India which is currently serving similar routes from its Delhi hub.

The national flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates is yet to get approval from Indian regulatory office for its 24% stake purchase of Jet Airways.

Though it fails to get a controlling stake in the Indian carrier, Etihad is seen to assert its influence on the former in most decision-making matters. This early, it has encouraged Jet to open routes to Australia.

Jet Airways and Qantas have code-share agreements so even if both airlines don't actually fly to either ways, they can still sell tickets to travelers who fly to any destinations within their respective networks.

To recall, Etihad has a close partnership with Virgin Australia, Qantas' archrival in their home turf. Qantas, in turn, is a close ally to Etihad's chief rival in its own sky, Emirates.

When queried about rumors on mounting direct flights from India to Australia, neither officials from Etihad and Jet Airways issued comments.

By: .

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