Jetstar and Virgin Blue propose to fly Australia-India route
A report in Express Travelworld in India says that during the Australian Travel Exchange 2007 (ATE) in Brisbane recently, Jetstar and Virgin Blue Airlines have announced its plans to spread network to India
Jetstar Australia,, announced its plans to spread its network to India in 2008-2009, planning to commence operations on those routes on which Qantas does not operate, for instance Bangalore.
In an exclusive with Express AviationWorld, Alan Joyce, CEO of Jetstar Airways, said, “We will operate as Jetstar Australia when we enter the Indian market.
“Bangalore is on our scheme of things, but is not the only city.”
“We aim to connect potential cities with connections to other regions of Australia and we consider India to be an important market but are yet to give any concrete form to our plans.”
Meanwhile, Australia’s “new world” carrier Virgin Blue, which claims to be Australia’s second biggest airline has also shown interest in the India market.
According to CEO, Brett Godfrey, “There are talks to connect India with Australia through Virgin Blue.” “However, it was unclear whether the airline would go ahead through it’s interline agreement with Malaysia Airlines or venture on its own.
At the same time, the merged Air India-Indian entity is to start Melbourne flights this December and is finalising its plans to commence operations from five cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore – to Melbourne via Singapore.
Victoria’s tourism minister Tim Holding said that India is the second largest travel market in Asia after China and one of the region’s fastest growing markets, adding that India’s one billion residents, particularly the large middle-class, are an increasingly important visitor market for the state.
He added that India will give Victoria an edge in marketing initiatives for next summer’s cricket between Australia and India, as well as programmes to develop education and business tourism.
The announcement about Indian flying into Melbourne was made before the merger and according to sources at Indian, the plan is still on and the merged entity will fly into Melbourne. The new A330s are scheduled to fly on this route.
To provide an indication of the scale of business out of India, unconfirmed reports say that from only a few flights a day from India to the UK a few years ago there are now over 100 – please note this is unconfirmed.
A Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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