Snubbed by China, Jet may fly to US via HK

New Delhi: With China playing hardball in granting Jet Airways clearance to fly to the US via Shanghai, the Naresh Goyal-owned carrier is now planning an alternative route for this sector via Hong Kong.
India had granted rights to a Chinese cargo airline to fly to India in mid-January despite security concerns during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Beijing.
In return, Jet was to get rights for the Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flight. But even one-and-a-half months after the Indian gesture, Jet is yet to get the clearance.
According to highly placed sources, one of the reasons for this could be that Jet wants to take passengers from Shanghai to San Francisco, something that may not be going down well with Chinese carriers. The aviation ministry has invited its Chinese counterpart to clear the air on the issue by March 21.
Jet is said to be keen on starting a flight to the US west coast via southeast Asia at the earliest, and if China does not relent, it may begin a Mumbai-Hong Kong-San Francisco flight.
Earlier, Indian Airlines had plans to fly to Australia via Guangzhou. But following its merger with Air India, the plans were put on hold.
04/03/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2008, Jet Airways Mar 2008, New Mar 2008