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Through check-in facilities -- Jet Air in talks with Saudi, Kuwait airlines

Vimala Vasan

ABU DHABI, Dec. 8

JET Airways is in talks with Saudia Airlines and Kuwait Airways to finalise through check-in facilities, following the success of similar arrangements with Emirates Airline and Gulf Air, according to a Jet Airways senior official.

Mr Abraham Joseph, General Manager, Gulf, West Asia and Africa, for Jet Airways, told Business Line that talks were on to put in place the required arrangements for through check-in facilities with Saudia Airline and Kuwait Airways. ``We hope to have thi s arrangement in place in a few months time,'' he said.

The Indian carrier had entered into similar arrangements with Emirates in November 1999 and Gulf Air in June this year.

``We have received a good feedback as the through check-in facility has helped passengers enjoy tension-free travel. Their baggage is taken care of till their end-destination

and there is the advantage of secured seats and transit to the domestic airport,'' he said.

Jet Airways also had a similar arrangement with Cathay Pacific, he added.

Mr Joseph said that Jet Airways had been experiencing tremendous growth in the West Asia and Africa regions, with a 15 to 20 per cent increase in business year-on-year.

``We are now in the process of consolidating our market share,'' he said. Saudi Arabia was the biggest market for the airline in the region, followed by the UAE, though the latter had registered a bigger growth every year, he said.

On whether the airline had been affected by the huge discounts on domestic dollar fare tickets offered by Indian Airlines since October, Mr Joseph said that there was some drop in percentage of the blue collar passenger traffic, particularly from Saudi A rabia, as a result of IA's move, but the overall load factor of the airline had not been affected.

``We have taken a conscious decision not to reduce fares as this is the peak season and our load factors are good till the end of January. We will review the situation at that stage,'' he said.

He, however, added that the airline was in touch with agents to adopt measures to offset the drop in passenger numbers.

The airline, which has an office in Dubai for the past six years, also opened offices in Jeddah and Riyadh and Johannesburg subsequently. It operates through general sales agents (GSAs) in the UAE, Cairo, Saudi Arabia, Beirut and Amman as well as in Afr ica.

As Mumbai was the main transit point for the airline's overseas passengers, plans were under way to improve transit, security and other facilities at the Mumbai airport, he said.

The airline, which operates 195 flights throughout India, has plans to add ten more aircraft to its fleet between 2001 to 2003.