Jet Konnect flies low for now

Mumbai: The country’s second-largest private airliner by passenger traffic Jet Airways launched another low-cost service called Jet Konnect.
However, market analysts expressed doubts if the move will help improve the fortunes of the carrier that is losing Rs 8 crore per day, as falling demand and excess capacity continue to dog the domestic aviation sector.
On Friday, as the service was launched, a company statement said Jet Konnect will complement Jet Airways’ full-service product. Jet is already present in the low-cost space with JetLite, the airliner it rebranded after it purchased from Sahara India. Travel industry representatives and market analysts ET spoke to felt the company could have expanded the coverage of JetLite, instead of launching another service. However, a Jet Airways official sought to refute this view saying the company doesn’t want to tamper with JetLite, which caters to 70 cities currently.
The response to the new service was lukewarm since the launch. “We thought that there would be a huge rush, but our data shows there have been no booking enquiries for Jet Konnect on the first three days,” said Travel Agents Association of India president Rajji Rai, who also runs Swiftravel, a travel agency. Other players in the low-cost segment said they were closely monitoring the Jet move.
“We have back-up plans and well-defined business model to take on competition at anytime,” said SpiceJet CEO Sanjay Aggarwal. A senior official from Paramount Airways, which offers business class at economy fares, said that it was not always low fares that pulls in passengers.
11/05/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Categories: Jet Airways May 2009