Jet, Kingfisher could reduce the number of flights; Jet to further rollback international operations

New Delhi: India's private airlines Kingfisher and Jet Airways, which recently came together in an operational alliance aimed at cost reductions, could reduce the number of flights as part of their cost management initiatives to manage the economic downturn. 

Kingfisher Airlines chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya said that the airlines would not ''unnecessarily deploy capacity'' that they cannot fill. He said that if, for example, ''in non-peak hours a Jet flight is not full and Kingfisher flight is not full, it makes sense for us to co-operate and fly one aircraft instead of two''. 

Mallya said that the move is aimed at improving the economics of airlines substantially. He also clarified that both carriers would also cooperate on international routes, even as Kingfisher's plans to start non-stop flights to San-Francisco has been put on hold, and Jet Airways recently decided to pull its service to San Francisco via Shanghai from January. "The world is big enough. We have enough routes to operate without clashing with anyone unnecessarily," he said.

Jet and Kingfisher, as part of their alliance, will cooperate in seven areas, including joint fuel management, common ground handling and cross-selling of flight inventories. Both carriers have been faced with adverse financial conditions for some time now, and have even laid off staff to manage costs.

Emerging from the meeting of Federation of Indian Airlines with petroleum minister Murli Deora and the civil aviation minister Praful Patel, Mallya said he has cancelled plans to import aviation turbine fuel in the light of the government's promised support to airlines. "Its not required, when the oil companies have agreed to help us, support us,'' he said.

Alliance partner Jet Airways has already trimmed its international operations by 26 per cent, and plans to rollback even more operations in the international space once the peak season is over.

At the same meeting with the petroleum minister Murli Deora and civil aviation minister Praful Patel, Jet's executives are reported to have said that around six of its wide-bodied aircraft would be lying idle on account of this cut in international operations. Consequently, the airline would evaluate an option to either lease them out or mothball them, since as of now, even that is profitable. They talked about a possible 15 per cent cut in domestic operations which would cause around eight aircraft of its subsidiary JetLite to lie idle.