Jet airways. Review on Jet Airways

Jet Airways is an airline based in Mumbai, India. It is the country's second-largest international airline after Air India and the largest domestic airline. It operates over 400 daily flights to 64 destinations. Its primary base is Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport with secondary hubs at Bangalore, Brussels, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.

In July 2008, it was honored as the world's best long-haul airline after Singapore Airlines.In a poll conducted in September 2008, it was voted as the world's seventh best airline overall. Jet Airways has also won an award for the quality of its catering.According to March 2008 figures, Jet Airways share of India's domestic

aviation market stood at 29.8%, including its low-cost subsidiary JetLite's share of 7.1%, making it the largest airline in India. However, the airline faces competition from other domestic carriers like Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet and IndiGo Airlines.

Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya and his Jet Airways counterpar, Naresh Goyal announced the alliance after a meeting on 13th October 2008 at Mumbai, India. The alliance will include code-sharing on both domestic and international flights, joint fuel management to reduce expenses, common ground handling, joint utilisation of crew and sharing of similar frequent flier programmes.

History

Jet Airways was incorporated as an air taxi operator on 1 April

1. It started commercial airline operations on 5 May 1993 with a

fleet of 4 Boeing 737-300

aircraft. In January 1994, a change in the law enabled Jet Airways to

apply for scheduled airline status, which was granted on 4 January

1. It began international operations to Sri Lanka in March 2004. While the company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange,

80% of its stock is controlled by Naresh Goyal (through his ownership

of Jet’s parent company, Tailwinds, and has 10, 017 employees (at March

2007).

Naresh Goyal,

who already owned Jetair (Private) Limited, which provided sales and

marketing for foreign airlines in India, set up Jet Airways as a

full-service scheduled airline to compete against state-owned Indian Airlines.

Indian Airlines had enjoyed a monopoly in the domestic market between

1953, when all major Indian air transport providers were nationalised

under the Air Corporations Act (1953), and January 1994,

*when the Air Corporations Act was repealed, following which Jet Airways received scheduled airline status.Jet Airways Boeing 777-35RERin the airline's new color scheme in 2007 On 12 April 2007, Jet Airways agreed to buy out Air Sahara for 14.5 billion rupees (US$340 million). Air Sahara was renamed JetLite, and was marketed between a low-cost carrier and a full service airline. In August 2008, Jet Airways announced its plans to completely integrate JetLite into Jet Airways.

In October 2008, Jet Airways laid off 1900 of its employees, resulting in the largest lay-off in the history of Indian aviation.

However, later, the employees have been asked to return to work. Civil

Aviation Minister Praful Patel said that the management reviewed its

decision after he analyzed the decision with them.

First Class

First class is available on all Boeing 777 aircraft. All seats

convert to a fully-flat bed, similar to Singapore Airlines suites but

smaller. It was the second airline in the world to have private suites.

(Emirates Airline

were first, introducing the private suites in 2003 on their Airbus

A340-500s). All seats have a 29-inch widescreen LCD monitor with

audio-video on-demand (AVOD), in seat power supply, and USB

ports etc. Jet Airways is the second airline in India to have

fully-enclosed first class suites on its aircraft; each suite has a

closeable door, making for a private compartment. It is the third-best

first class in the world as conducted by Skytrax. The only airlines

that surpass Jet in first class are Singapore Airlines and Emirates

Première Class

Première Class (Business Class) on the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777

International Fleet has a fully-flat bed with AVOD entertainment. Seats

are configured in a herringbone

pattern (1-2-1 on the Boeing 777, and 1-1-1 on the Airbus A330), with

each seat offering direct access to the aisle. USB ports and in-seat

laptop power are provided. Mood Lighting is installed on the Airbus

A330 and Boeing 777, with light schemes corresponding to the time of

day and flight position.

On the short-haul/domestic Boeing 737, all new aircraft are equipped with AVOD. All seats are standard recliner business-class seats with a few newer aircraft with electronic recline and massager.

Economy Class

Economy class on the Airbus A330, Boeing 737 and Boeing 777 has 32-inch seat pitch. All Boeing 777/Airbus A330, as well as some Boeing 737 aircraft, have a touch screen AVOD

system. Seats on the Boeing 777/Airbus A330 have a "hammock-style" net

footrest. The cabin is configured in 3-3-3 abreast on the Boeing 777,

2-4-2 on the Airbus A330, and 3-3 in the Boeing 737

Jet Airways has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:Air CanadaAll Nippon AirwaysAmerican AirlinesBrussels AirlinesEmirates Airline [16]Etihad AirwaysKingfisher AirlinesQantas AirwaysUnited Airlines (starts November 2008)

Destinations Jet Airways serves 64 destinations by itself and 22 destinations across the world through Code Sharing. In addition to destinations across India and other parts of the Indian subcontinent (Colombo, Dhaka, Kathmandu), Jet Airways expanded international operations to include destinations in Asia (Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai [ending January 13], Singapore), Europe (Brussels, London), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, Dubai , Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat) and North America (New York, Newark, San Francisco [ending January 13], Toronto). By July 2007, it was connecting India with over 50 international destinations.[13]Jet Airways will end service to Shanghai, China and San Francisco on January 13, 2009