Jet Airways hints at further capacity reduction

Hyderabad: Jet Airways, which has already reduced its capacity on international routes, has said that it may further reduce capacity by 8-10 per cent, Mr Saroj Dutta, Executive Director of Jet Airways, said.
Taking part in a panel discussion on the impact of the economic crisis on the aviation industry at the Routes summit here on Monday, he said reduction in capacity was essential to increase yields in a challenging environment. Last year, it reduced 12 per cent of its capacity. Mr Dutta, however, hastened to add that the reduction of capacity would depend on the reduction of capacity by the industry.
Talking to reporters later, he said the talks with Kingfisher for collaboration were on. “We are working on cooperating in some specific areas. I can’t give a timeline,” he said.
Mr Dutta said that the industry was suffering and the increase in fee would hurt. But the airport industry, represented by Mr Shantaraju, Chief Executive Officer of Delhi International Airport, and Mr P. Seth, Member (Operations) of Airports Authority of India, differed.
“You cannot have airport development without increasing the fee, which remained the same for the last nine years,” they said.
Mr Seth said the Government earmarked investments to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore in the Five-Year Plan. “Of this, we will spend Rs 3,000 crore this year alone,” he said.
Mr Madhavan Nambiar, Secretary of Civil Aviation, defended the raise of 10 per cent in airport charges.
Delivering the keynote address at the Leaders’ Forum at the Seventh Routes summit here, he said the interests of airlines and airports would have to be balanced for a healthy growth of the aviation sector.
Prof Rigas Doganis, Board Director of GMR Hyderabad International Airport, said the aviation industry globally suffered a blow of $63 billion last year due to the slowdown. But the reduction in oil prices helped it save $52 billion, leaving a net loss of $11 billion.
30/03/09 Business Line

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Categories: Jet Airways Mar 2009