Jet Airways Cuts Overseas Seats, to Use Smaller Planes

Jet Airways has cut capacity on some of its overseas routes to lower costs.
The airline this month switched to flying an Airbus SAS 330, which can carry as many as 335 passengers, from a Boeing Co. 777, with a capacity to seat as many as 479, to Brussels, Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said on a conference call today. It will fly a Boeing 737, which can carry a maximum 189 passengers, instead of an A330, to Kuala Lumpur, he said.
Jet Airways joins Qantas Airways Ltd. and Korean Air Lines Co. in cutting capacity as the near doubling of jet fuel prices in the past year inflates the biggest expense of most Asian carriers. The airline, which yesterday reported profit increased fivefold after reversing a depreciation charge, filled a lower proportion of seats from a year earlier as rising fares and a slowing economy has discouraged flyers.
The company expects net yields for airlines to rise after the payment of a 5 percent commission is withdrawn to travel agents, Prock-Schauer said. Travel agents account for 80 percent of the airline's business, he said.
Jet Airways has room to increase fares further by 10 percent, raise fuel surcharges and lower catering costs, Prock-Schauer said.
30/07/08 Subramaniam Sharma/Bloomberg

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Categories: Foreign Jul 2008, Jet Airways Jul 2008