Jet may lease more aircraft, to neutralise slump impact

Hyderabad: To place out its excess capacity during these times of recession, Jet Airways has already leased out nine aircraft since December 2008 and is planning to lease out more aircrafts in the coming months.
The private airliner is also in the process of consolidating its presence and has no plans to launch any new routes unless there is any sign of recovery in the market.
According to Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer of Jet Airways, “We are not pulling out from any international routes nor are we adding new routes. We will review our stand on launching new routes if the market recovers. Right now, its time for consolidation. In October 2008, the industry saw highest domestic fares but now it has dropped to almost 50%. Logically speaking, when the prices came down the industry should have seen incremental numbers in terms of airtravel. But that did not happen. On the other hand, although the fuel costs have come down, the airliners have not benefitted because we are still paying for our old aviation fuel bills when the prices were at $ 147 a barrel”.
Talking about cutting flab, he said, “We do have excess manpower. But what we are trying to do now is redeploy them in areas , which would result in better customer service”.
Earlier speaking at the ‘7th Routes Asia 2009’ seminar in Hyderabad he said, few years ago when there was an unprecedented economic growth in the country, almost all the airlines expanded their capacity and brought in dynamic pricing models to compete in the market.
30/03/09 Financial Express

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Categories: Jet Airways Mar 2009