Jet Airways mulls launch of non-stop India-US service

Private carrier and the country's largest by market share, Jet Airways, is mulling the possibility of launching a non-stop flight to the US, company sources have said. It may launch a New Delhi-New York flight sometime by end-2011 or early 2012.

Currently, it provides one daily connection to New York and New Jersey via Brussels, its European hub.

According to company executives, the company is also in talks with US domestic airline Delta to provide onward connections within that country. Jet already has a code share agreement with American Airlines, which operates a non-stop daily Chicago-New Delhi flight.

Last year, it entered into a code share agreement with United Airlines.

On these routes, Jet will compete with Air India, which operates non-stop daily flights to New York and Chicago. Though a premium route, Air India makes annual losses of Rs750 crore. According to market observers, so far no carrier flying non-stop to the US has been able to break even as this route is dominated by US carriers.

Jet is mulling operations on this route as air traffic has shown a robust growth and passengers prefer quick and efficient service.

Company sources said Jet's daily service to Milan had received a good response, with flights to that city carrying a load factor of around 70-80 per cent, though the return leg continued to carry less load.