Jet, Kingfisher bet on global routes for forex advantage

New Delhi: Have seats, go phoren. Notwithstanding the economic downturn, two private airlines are going international all out to shore up their bottomlines.
It makes a lot of business sense to add to international operations. Industry sources point out that not only is the cost of aviation turbine fuel in South-East Asia and the Gulf (West Asia) region almost 40-50 per cent lower than here but airlines earn foreign exchange too.
Jet Airways officials, however, maintain that high passenger demand is driving the launch of more flights. For the airline, international revenues in the first quarter accounted for 56.9 per cent of the operating revenues against 48 per cent in the same period last year.
It has indicated that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margins for the first quarter of 2010 from international operations will be 22 per cent compared with 9 per cent from domestic operations.
Kingfisher too has announced that it will launch eight new international flights, but has not indicated the date for commencing most of them. The airline has said it will connect Mumbai with both Singapore and Hong Kong through daily flights in September.
28/07/09 Business Line/Moneycontrol.com

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Categories: Foreign Jul 2009, Jet Airways Jul 2009, Kingfisher Jul 2009