Etihad partnership drives growth at Jet Airways

Left to right: Cramer Ball, Jet Airways’ chief executive; Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways’ chairman; and James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ president

The strategic investment of Etihad Airways into Jet Airways is delivering strong results for both airlines across areas including network growth, revenue enhancement and operational and cost improvements, senior executives from the airlines said today.

Speaking at a media conference in Mumbai, Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways’ chairman; James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ president; and Cramer Ball, Jet Airways’ chief executive also gave other details of the significantly improved results for the Indian carrier.

The two airlines together now offer more flights to and from India than any other airline, with a 21 per cent share of the country’s booming international air travel market.

Since Etihad Airways’ 24 per cent investment in Jet Airways was finalised in November 2013, the two airlines have increased from nine to 15 the number of direct routes between India and Abu Dhabi, introduced wide-bodied aircraft on key routes, and increased to multiple daily flights in some markets.

Addressing the media Goyal, Hogan and Ball said that the airlines now offer a combined total of 40,000 seats each way, each week between India and Abu Dhabi.

This has resulted in more choice and better connectivity for guests travelling out and into India from across the world.

Goyal said: “Our strategic collaboration with Etihad Airways includes network integration, joint sales effort, sharing of resources, collaborated procurement and knowledge transfer.

“All of these have enabled us to leverage cost advantages and economies of scale to the eventual benefit of our guests, as well as our employees.”

In terms of the combined network, Jet Airways now has its 9W code on Etihad Airways flights to 33 destinations across the world, while Etihad Airways now places its EY code on 60 Jet Airways routes, mostly within India.

The airlines have also aligned their schedules between Abu Dhabi and India to improve flight connectivity between their networks, substantially increasing choice for passengers on both airlines.

Hogan added: “Before our equity deal with Jet Airways, we had two per cent of the international traffic out of India. Today, with Jet Airways, we have 21 per cent of the market, and combined, we are the dominant carriers out of India.

“Jet Airways is now our number one equity partner for revenue and passenger contribution on Etihad Airways. India is now Abu Dhabi’s number one source market for international visitors.”

In the first six months of 2015 Etihad Airways transferred more than 235,000 guests onto Jet Airways’ network into India through its codeshare partnership, with Jet Airways providing 182,000 guests onto the Etihad Airways network.

The improved Jet Airways performance followed a number of other key strategic moves that had been taken, including the airline’s return to being a single brand with a full service offering, the standardization of its Boeing 737-800 fleet and a refreshing and reconfiguring of cabins on its Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft.

Ball said that Jet Airways’ return to single brand full service product strategy has been successful: “In an increasingly competitive environment we are adding value through our consistent full service product supported by the ‘Guest First’ service philosophy.

“Our overall value proposition that includes complimentary lounge access at airports for frequent fliers, quality inflight catering across all flights and an award winning loyalty programme is receiving very positive acceptance in the market,” he added.