Jet Airways and Garuda Indonesia sign code share agreement

Jet Airways and national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia have concluded a code share agreement for connectivity between India and Indonesia.

Under the arrangement, using Singapore as a hub, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on Garuda Indonesia’s flights between Singapore and Jakarta and Garuda will place its marketing code on Jet Airways’ flights between Singapore and Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

The two airlines have also signed a frequent flyer partnership, allowing members of each others loyalty programs to accrue and redeem mileage on the code-share flights, the entire domestic network of Garuda Indonesia, and on Jet Airways' complete network, domestic and international.

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As Competition Commision clears Jet-Etihad merger, it is goodbye Jet and hello Jetihad

by Devesh Agarwal

On Tuesday, beleaguered Indian carrier, Jet Airways cleared its final hurdle in its $397 million quest to sell a 24% stake to Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways PJSC, when the Competition Commission of India (CCI), cleared the deal paving the way for the Naresh Goyal promoted Jet to receive desperately needed cash from the deal.

The Union cabinet had already cleared the deal last month on October 4, the CCI approval now means that the deal, the first since the government announced a liberalised policy allowing foreign airlines to invest in domestic carriers, can be fully operational within, as little as, the next fortnight.

Keeping public sentiment on the fear of the two airlines monopolising the India Abu Dhabi routes, the CCI has cautioned

"This approval should not be construed as immunity in any manner from subsequent proceedings before the Commission for violations of other provisions of the Act. It is incumbent upon the parties to ensure that this ex-ante approval does not lead to ex-post violation of the provision of the Act,”

This deal could not have come a moment too soon for Jet Airways, which is literally running on fumes. The airline which is reeling under a debt of almost $2 billion, desperately needs cash to retire high cost debt.

In addition to the cash from the stake sale, Etihad has purchased Jet's landing slots at Heathrow, will buy the airline's frequent flier programme JetPrivilege, and will provide/arrange for loans under soft and discounted rates, which will used by Jet Airways to retire its high cost debt.

The measure of financial need at Jet is visible in the performance of the carrier in the second quarter of this fiscal, where it posted an eye-popping loss of nearly Rs. 1,000 Crores.

Jet Airways A330-200s grounded at New Delhi IGI airport. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

The operations performance analysis show an airline which is seriously lacking clarity. The international operations which were the bulk of revenue, have seen much of the airline's Airbus A330-200 fleet grounded as non-profitable routes were withdrawn or curtailed. In the second quarter alone, the airline lost over Rs. 123 Crore ($205 million), or the cost of one new wide-body,  just keeping the aircraft grounded.

The airline was expecting to lease a couple of aircraft to Etihad, but could not do so due to "various reasons". Can we attribute this lack of clarity to the transition in operational control from Jet to Etihad?

Etihad is extracting its pound of flesh for its money. While both Jet and Etihad may publicly say otherwise, there is a clear re-alignment and re-organisation of operational strategy and divestiture of control to Etihad. Senior executives have resigned, including the CEO Nikos Kardassis, and Vice President Network Planning K.G. Vishwanath.

Recently the Business Standard reported that Rajeev Nambiar, sales head of Etihad, is likely to replace Sonu Kripalani, Jet’s vice-president (Sales). We had Bangalore Aviation had earlier reported the expected departure of Jet's Chief Commercial Officer, Sudheer Raghavan. The Business Standard report confirms our report saying

In another move Willy Boulter, Etihad’s vice-president (commercial and network planning), is likely to take over as Jet’s chief commercial officer, replacing Sudheer Raghavan. Sources say Raghavan is leaving the organisation, as his powers and responsibilities are being curtailed.

The commercial cooperation agreement (CCA) between the two airlines places enormous burden on Jet, requiring it to re-route its profitable and short-haul direct India-Dubai and India Sharjah routes via Abu Dhabi. One has to ask, why would someone replace a two or three hour direct flight with a four to five hour one-stop one? The CCA further goes to require Jet to re-route most of its international destinations via Abh Dhabi, with the exception of London, South-East Asia, and Australia-New Zealand.

Reports are of Jet mounting flights to Newark, Toronto, and Chicago via Abu Dhabi. Agreement aside, Abu Dhabi Chicago is almost 7,300 miles just 50 miles less than New Delhi New York, a route, that the Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ER was not flying non-stop due to its ultra-heavy first class suites. Is Jet going to modify its cabins to achieve Etihad's dreams?

The agreement will also require Jet to dilute its scissor hub at Brussels, not operate flights in competition to Etihad, with the reverse not being true, not operate and discontinue existing bilateral relations and code-shares with other airlines which may be in competition to Etihad.

In another Business Standard report

According to the terms of the CCA-a copy of which has been reviewed by Business Standard-Jet would have to route its services from India to Sharjah and Dubai through Abu Dhabi as soon as it becomes economically viable.

In what may additionally water down Jet's operations out of its hub in Brussels (Belgium), the Indian airline would have to develop Abu Dhabi as an exclusive hub for flights to North America, South America, Africa and the United Arab Emirates ('exclusive territories'). Canada too would be included in the list of "exclusive territories" once relevant amendments are made to bilateral air-services agreements to permit Jet to fly to Toronto via Abu Dhabi. Jet currently flies to New York and Toronto via its hub in Brussels.

The agreement, however, says exceptions can be made to allow Jet to mount non-stop operations between India and destinations in the 'exclusive territories' if Etihad agrees that it would be economically viable to do so. A Jet spokesperson, while declining to share details of specific plans, says, "As the Jet and Etihad alliance is being examined by the concerned regulatory authorities and their consequent approvals are awaited, it would be inappropriate for Jet to respond at this stage."

The CCA also restrains the Indian carrier from entering into code-share arrangements with third-party airlines, the impact of which may result in Abu Dhabi being bypassed as a hub for traffic to and from the exclusive territories.

According to the terms of the CCA, Jet would have to exit existing joint ventures or code-share arrangements with other airlines which can adversely impact business prospects of the alliance it has forged with Etihad. Jet can form code-share arrangements with third parties to destinations within exclusive territories not served by Etihad or its affiliates - but only till such time as they do not commence operations on these routes.

The two airlines have set up a coordination committee to "study" and implement "better cooperation" between themselves.

Quite clearly, it is goodbye Jet Airways and welcome to Jetihad Airways.

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Jet Airways' JetPrivilege inks partnership with Color Plus

By BA Staff

Jet Airways' JetPrivilege frequent flyer program announced a partnership with ColorPlus, a clothing brand for men.


JetPrivilege members will get rewarded with 10 JPMiles for every Rs. 100 spent on purchases made at ColorPlus exclusive stores across India.

JetPrivilege members will now get to experience premium ‘Smart casuals’ and the many product enhancements, introduced by ColorPlus' innovations, including Wrinkle-Free Chinos, Golf Ball wash, Wrinkle-Free linen, Stain free shirt variants.

According to Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways:

 “JetPrivilege has always endeavoured to offer its members exceptional value and an enhanced lifestyle experience with programme partnerships across varied categories and segments. The introduction of this elite lifestyle brand to our JetPrivilege programme is yet another step in that direction, enabling our JetPrivilege members to enjoy exclusive offers in the retail space. We are delighted to bring yet another vibrant brand - ColorPlus to our esteemed JetPrivilege members, with benefits like a fine retail experience as also earn JPMiles. Above all, this makes for an unmatched shopping experience."

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Jet Airways guests can now book and pay for their JetEscapes hoildays on jetairways.com

By BA Staff

Jet Airways has introduced an option for guests to book and pay for their favourite JetEscapes Holidays, on the website www.jetairways.com.

Jet Airways has crafted theme based holidays for its guests. Guests can select their preferred holidays from an array of popular themes like beach, pilgrimage, historical, wildlife, family and corporate holidays. 

These holidays include return air travel on Jet Airways, airport transfers, hotel stay with breakfast in budget to luxury hotels, sightseeing, travel insurance, besides offering guests the opportunity to earn five JP Miles for every Rs.100 spent.

Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, said

“Jet Airways' customer-centric approach, with a clear focus on providing enhanced travel experience, a high standard of service offering with consistent delivery, has enabled us to become the airline of choice. The introduction of our maiden JetEscapes Holidays direct to guests gives us the unique opportunity to offer our discerning guests a refreshing end-to-end travel experience. Through these attractive JetEscapes Holidays, we aim to make travel for our guests truly memorable, while providing multiple opportunities to explore destinations in India and abroad. At Jet Airways, we have constantly endeavoured to offer our guests exceptional value and an enhanced flying experience through innovative products and services. We are confident that our holidays to these destinations will prove to be extremely popular with travellers.”

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Air France and KLM partner with Jet Airways to expand India connectivity

Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, have entered in to a unilateral code-share agreement with India's Jet Airways which will allow them to extend their connectivity to Indian cities which are currently not served by them.

At present Air France and KLM operate 27 flights a week to India. Air France has flights from Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) to Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi, while KLM operates from Amsterdam Schipol to New Delhi. From June 19, 2013, Air France will place its marketing code (AF) on Jet Airways’ domestic flights to Chennai from Bangalore, New Delhi or Mumbai and Kolkata and Hyderabad via Bangalore and Mumbai. Likewise, KLM will place its marketing code (KL) on Jet Airways’ domestic flights to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai via New Delhi.

The three airlines already have a full fledged network-wide accrual and redemption partnership for their frequent flyer programs, Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege and Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue, for many years.

The announcement did not indicate if there will be a reciprocal code-share arrangement where Jet Airways would put its flight numbers on Air France and KLM operated flights between India and Europe. A spokesperson for Air France indicated the agreement was unilateral. Jet Airways did not respond.

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Star Alliance members reject Air India, invite Jet Airways. Air India should choose oneworld

The Star Alliance, a global grouping of 27 airlines, has rejected the application of national carrier Air India to join the group. In over 14 years, and 28 applicants, this is the first time the application of any airline has been rejected.

A source, who wants to remain anonymous, confirmed, the alliance had effectively rejected Air India's application last year itself, but for diplomatic reasons termed the action, at that time, as a "suspension". The mountainous losses of Air India, and its crashing brand value, especially due to the recent pilots' strike, proved to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. At a recent meeting, it is learnt, the majority of members of the alliance voted to reject Air India's application. The ballot is done in extreme secret and even the alliance members do not know of the vote of other members.

This rejection opens the door for India's largest private airline, Jet Airways, who has always eyed joining the alliance. Our co-editor Vinay Bhaskara has done an analysis on what this means for Jet.

As per a report in the Business Standard,

Ajit Singh, Minister for Civil Aviation, Government of India, said, “To be part of the Alliance, every member has to agree and that has not happened, especially after the pilots’ strike, when we lost a lot of credibility. They have practically said no, and had sent us a letter last week. We have asked Air India to look for other options and alliances.” Air India will now hold talks with other airline alliances like Sky Team and One World,

Which alliance for Air India?

In our opinion, oneworld will be the next best choice for Air India. The alliance is strongly committed to India, coming agonisingly close to being the first alliance to induct an Indian carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, before the carrier financially imploded. The alliance has also seen the closure of other members, Hungary's Malev and Mexico's Mexicana. So it is hungry for new members. The CEO of oneworld, Bruce Ashby, has strong Indian aviation experience as CEO of LCC IndiGo, and can work the delicate egos of the Indian bureaucracy.

Air India already operates flights to many oneworld hubs, London (British), Chicago and New York (American), Hong Kong (Cathay), Singapore (Cathay and Qantas), and Tokyo (JAL). Soon it will also commence flights to Sydney, hub of Qantas. Conversely, all existing oneworld carriers, save American, Qantas and LAN, operate to either, or both, Air India's hubs in Delhi and Mumbai.

oneworld currently has a weak presence in the Indian and South Asian market, and lacks strong connecting hubs east of Helsinki and west of Singapore. Amman, Jordan is too small, and Colombo, Sri Lanka is too far South.


Along with Air India, oneworld can bridge this gap and gain a commanding presence in the Gulf to South-East Asia geography with the upcoming entries of Malaysia Airlines, and Sri Lankan Airlines.

T3 in Delhi is already a true connecting hub for Air India, has an existing strong portfolio of destinations, not just in India, but across south Asia, and the Gulf. One the integrated terminal 2 is completed in Mumbai, it will only add to the hub strength of Air India.

Adding Air India to the fold would also solve one of oneworld's biggest problems; getting passengers to and from secondary Indian destinations. Air India already operates connecting flights from various cities across India to connect and feed its long distance international flights from Delhi and Mumbai.

Having solved many of its system's problems during the attempted integration with Star, Air India will also be far more ready, and its integration quicker, should oneworld decide to pursue a partnership.

Air India used to provide good inflight service, and with the assistance of oneworld and the backing of respected airlines like British Airways and Cathay Pacific would hopefully allow Air India to re-shape itself as an excellent service provider.

Frequent Flyer Programme

With Jet being invited and a virtual shoo-in to join the Star Alliance, its frequent flyer programme (FFP) JetPrivilege is going to get a massive boost, with members being able to accrue and redeem miles across all the member airlines. Air India's Flying Returns FFP risks being swept away and becoming irrelevant as both passengers and partners seek a broader base.

 oneworld members have been voted as having the best FFPs in the world, American Airlines in the Americas, British Airways in Europe and Africa, and Cathay Pacific in the Asia, Middle East, Oceania geographies respectively. An alliance with oneworld will also provide Air India the similar broad-basing as well as linkages with existing oneworld partners in the non-airline section.

What are your thoughts? Share a comment via our new Disqus 2012 comment system below.

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Jet Airways switches co-branded credit card partner from Citibank to HDFC

JetPrivilege, the frequent flyer programme (FFP) of Jet Airways, has chosen a new partner for its co-branded credit card. HDFC Bank.

Like in its earlier Citibank avatar, the JetPrivilege-HDFC Bank Credit Card will be offered on the MasterCard platform, but this time in three variants, World, Platinum and Titanium, unlike the previous one.

Co-branded credit cards convert loyalty points offered for using the card in to miles in the FFP of the airline. For example, the highest end credit card, the World Card, will entitle cardholders to earn 6 JPMiles for every Rs. 150 spent.

The product sheet detailing benefits is below.

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Analysis: Jet Airways Spinning Off Jet Priviledge

Mumbai based full service carrier Jet Airways recently released its annual report for fiscal year 2011-2012, and amongst the many things discussed was this (not so) little nugget about Jet Airways' frequent flyer program JetPrivilege.

The loyalty industry is evolving in India. Your Company proposes to leverage this evolving business opportunity by setting up a marketing services company engaged in the business of managing reward points and loyalty programs for its program partners. Initially, the marketing services company will be a 100% subsidiary company. As and when negotiations with the potential knowledge partners crystallize into a concrete decision, it is proposed that some percentage of the Company’s stake be offered to the knowledge partners.

Your Company currently runs a frequent flyer programme, the JetPrivilege programme, through which members can earn and redeem JPMiles. The JetPrivilege programme is managed and operated in-house. Your Company proposes to transfer the JetPrivilege programme to the marketing services company and in the process transform the JetPrivilege programme into a larger retail-based coalition loyalty program and through its operations unlock greater commercial value.

Approval of the Shareholders for transfer of the JetPrivilege programme to the subsidiary company will be sought through postal ballot in due course.

Therefore, the Board of Directors, at the Meeting held on 24th May, 2012, granted its unanimous approval for an investment up to 100% in the Share Capital of the proposed maketing services company.

While Jet Airways did not give any timeline for the move, it is still interesting that they would choose to spin off JetPriviledge, especially in light of their comments about increasing ancillary revenue during the first quarter analyst's conference call. Jet Airways is certainly not the first airline to spin off its frequent flyer program and use it for profit generation (known as a profit centre). Air Canada's Aeroplan and American Airlines' AAdvantage are both run separately as profit centres where the airline will sell off its miles to various partners (primarily credit cards), and then allow those partners to use the miles as rewards for their own loyalty programs, then provide award space where those miles can be redeemed for flights. At Western airlines, such profit centre frequent flyer programs have annual turnover of more than $1 billion and profits that run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The move also comes at a time when Jet is almost entirely remaking JetPrivilege. The program already has a ton of airline redemption partners, and the recently announced entrance into Star Alliance (pending government approval) will only make the frequent flyer program more attractive. Jet also recently dropped its 10 year partnership with CitiBank in favor of three different miles-earning credit card partners.

I think that the spin-off is likely to be very beneficial to Jet, as their frequent flyer program is already the most attractive one in India, and the potential addition of the entire Star Alliance global network to the redemption options will make Jet Airways frequent flyer miles a very valuable commodity. At the same time, Jet Airways has to be careful not to overuse the profit centre capability. Have you ever heard the saying, "if everybody's rich, then no one is?" Similarly, if the spin off creates a ton more Jet miles, then the existing miles will be devalued. The prices for award redemption would go up, which could anger and drive away current Jet Airways frequent flyers, who in the end are much more important to the company's prosperity than transitory mileage program partners.

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Indian and global commercial aviation news briefing: September 28th

by Devesh Agarwal

India top news

SpiceJet passenger loads on Q400 flights exceeding expectations within a week of commencing service
Sources inside the airline have told Bangalore Aviation that the passenger load factors on their Q400 operations have smashed the airline's expectations within the first week of travel itself.

On almost all routes, the passenger load factors are exceeding the break-even load factors by a "significant margin". On some routes the budget carrier is averaging over 97.5% load factors.

Of special significance are the performance of certain "virgin routes" like Hyderabad Madurai, Vishakapatanam Tirupati, Bangalore Vishakapatanam, and the soon to commence Hyderabad Mangalore flights. It is rumoured that the Hyderabad Vijayawada route has already achieved break-even, thus validating the airline's strategy of expanding to tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

The source also confirmed the airline bouyed by the response, is accelerating its Q400 delivery schedule, with the sixth aircraft, VT-SUF Kesar, due to join the fleet by October 20th.

Looking at this positive response and based on other intelligence, Bangalore Aviation opines that SpiceJet will confirm the 15 aircraft currently on option, and probably announce an additional order beyond these 30 aircraft, within the next fiscal year.

Mumbai airport to construct new taxiway. Runway 14/32 to be shut till Jan. 20, 2012
As per a release,

As a part of its ongoing efforts to enhance the overall airside efficiency at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) today announced that it will construct a new taxiway between taxiway E1 and E3 for the secondary runway 14/32. As a result, aircraft will be able to vacate the runway, thereby reducing runway occupancy time. To facilitate this infrastructure work, runway 14/32 will be closed for flight operations from October 10, 2011 – January 20, 2012. If required, the restoration time for the same will be 48 hours. Flight operations will not be impacted as the primary runway 09/27 will continue to remain open for operations. This work including the construction and closure is being undertaken post discussion with DGCA, ATC and airlines.

Bangalore Aviation spoke to a member of the airside operations team. The new taxiway is being constructed partly keeping efficiency and partly keeping safety in mind. The existing taxiway E1 creates some interference problems with the localiser beam under certain conditions, thus delaying landings on runway 14. The shape of the new taxiway will be improved, and better fillets will be added, to eliminate the interference and also allow for wide body aircraft to exit the runway faster.

In other India aviation news

Kingfisher Airlines likely to face tough financial questions at its Annual General Meeting. (Read The Mint newspaper report also read the statement issued by Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman, Kingfisher Airlines.)

Mumbai airport’s ATC sets new time limits for aircraft to vacate runways to improve flight capacity. As per the report "Pilots landing in Mumbai now have to vacate the runway within 49 seconds of touchdown, while those taking off cannot occupy the airstrip for more than 40 seconds." Read more.

Airbus employees embark on third biodiversity project to India.

Air India improves its On Time Performance and load factors.

Three persons were held for theft of Nokia cell phones at Chennai airport, being transported by DHL.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry supports allowing foreign airlines to invest in the domestic aviation sector.

Jet Airways downgrades lounge priveleges for its JetPrivilege Gold and Platinum tier members. (From the airline website "With effect from October 1, 2011, guests will not be able to accompany Platinum and Gold members to the lounge at domestic and international airports.") Read more or download the document here.

World top news

First Boeing 787 Dreamliner JA801A makes its delivery flight.
After a wet delivery ceremony on Monday, the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner JA801A left Paine Field, Everett, Washington, USA yesterday morning at 07:16 local time (19:46 IST 14:16 GMT) and after a 9h47m flight arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport at 09:03 local time (05:33 IST, 01:03 GMT) earlier this morning. The flight as flight ANA9397 was staffed exclusively by All Nippon Airways crew, who handled their newest baby with kid gloves. You can see the detailed flight track here on FlightAware.

You can see a video of the take-off here at Boeing's site.

Videos of the arrival at Haneda earlier this morning are available here and here. The water cannon salute is visible on this mobile phone video.



In other global aviation news

bmi is cutting domestic flights.

Aer Lingus has said its performance during July and August was better than the same time last year.

Emirates Airline, Dubai’s flagship carrier, is likely to place even more orders for new planes at the Dubai Airshow in November.

American Airlines plans to raise more than $725 million in debt by using airplanes as collateral.

Boeing and Russia's UTair Aviation have signed an order for 40 Boeing 737-800 and 737-900ER aircraft. The order is comprised of seven 737-900ERs and 33 737-800s. The agreement was previously announced at the 2011 Paris Air Show. The order is valued at $3.8 billion at list prices.


Avianca, part of the airline group AviancaTaca Holdings, has signed a firm order with Airbus SAS for four Airbus A330-200 Freighter aircraft. The new aircraft will be operated by Avianca’s cargo subsidiary Tampa. Avianca will announce its engine choice at a later date. Read more.

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American and Kingfisher announce codeshare and frequent flier partnership

India's Kingfisher Airlines continues to deepen its member-elect relations with the oneworld alliance. Along with alliance founder American Airlines, it has announced entering in to a code-share and frequent flier program relationship due to commence in 2011.

This agreement finally gives Kingfisher its long awaited access to the US market, one of the biggest destination markets for Indian travellers.

The initial phase of the code-share relationship announced today will allow American to place its AA airline code on Kingfisher's domestic India network beyond New Delhi, and on Kingfisher's Airlines’ flights from London Heathrow to New Delhi and Mumbai. Kingfisher will place its IT airline code on selected American flights between London Heathrow and US destinations (New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles LAX, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, and Raliegh-Durham) and on American's five year old daily non-stop flight between New Delhi and Chicago O’Hare. Read the detailed application to the US Dept. of Transportation Docket Number 2010-0288 (PDF format), and read this article on airlineroute.net for full details on specific sectors.

Initially, members of American’s AAdvantage and Kingfisher Airlines’ King Club frequent flyer programs will be able to earn miles on the codeshare flights. The two airlines are exploring a more comprehensive frequent flyer agreement that will include the ability to earn and redeem miles across each carrier’s network.

What has been left unsaid in this announcement is the impact on the existing code-share and frequent flier program relations American Airlines has with India's Jet Airways. American places its AA airline code on Jet Airways' flights between India and Brussels while Jet Airways places its 9W airline code on American flights Between New York (JFK) Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas-Fort Worth, Raleigh-Durham and Washington DC (DCA), and on the same Delhi Chicago non-stop that Kingfisher has announced it will code share on.

It is quite inconceivable that American will have both Jet and Kingfisher place their airline code-shares on their Delhi-Chicago flights. Bangalore Aviation attempted to contact all three airlines to clarify the situation. Both Jet Airways and Kingfisher did not comment, while a request is still pending with American and will be updated if received.

While one can understand that Kingfisher would not want to comment on behalf of American, from an analyst perspective, a lack of response from Kingfisher is compelling. If Kingfisher is already allowing a dilution of its proposed partnership with American, to its primary India competition, Jet, it will give anyone a reason to seriously doubt the cost-benefit ratios the alliance membership accruing to Kingfisher viz-a-vis to what it will have to give up.

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Jet Airways and Emirates announce partnership

Jet Airways and Emirates Airline, have today announced their partnership plans spanning a reciprocal frequent flyer arrangement and unilateral code share agreement.

Effective December 15, 2008, the two airlines will launch a reciprocal frequent flyer arrangement whereby members of Jet Airways' JetPrivilege, India's largest frequent flyer programme, may earn and redeem miles across Emirates' rapidly-expanding international network, with the exception of flights between India and Dubai. Members of Emirates' Skywards programme may also earn and redeem miles on all Jet Airways flights operating within India.

The same day, Emirates will also commence a unilateral code share on Jet Airways' daily flights from Mumbai and New Delhi to and from Dubai, offering passengers enhanced connectivity and a range of services between India and Dubai.

Jet Airways operates daily services on the Mumbai/New Delhi-Dubai sectors with it's Airbus A330-200 and Boeing B737-800 aircraft respectively, with a two-class configuration: Première (Business) and Economy. Jet Airways' flights on these sectors will be identified with its '9W' code as well as with the Emirates 'EK' code.

According to Mr. Wolfgang Prock Schauer, Chief Executive Officer, Jet Airways: "Dubai is an important market for Jet Airways and there is significant demand from our customers to travel to and beyond Dubai. We are delighted to be able to get this exciting, new agreement up and running quickly for the benefit of our customers. The frequent flyer partnership with Emirates, particularly, is a mutually beneficial one, enabling JetPrivilege members to tap into Emirates' impressive international network while earning and redeeming frequent flyer miles, and vice-versa vis-à-vis Jet Airways' unmatched pan-India domestic network."

Mr. Salem Obaidalla, Emirates' Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, West Asia, Indian Ocean and Africa stated: "The agreements between Emirates and Jet represent a significant step forward in strengthening the relationship between our two airlines and between long-standing partners, India and the UAE. The pact will enable us to offer passengers enhanced flexibility and at the same time it will boost trade and commerce between the two countries."

Currently, Jet Airways also has code share agreements with Air Canada, American Airlines, ANA, Brussels Airlines, Etihad, Qantas and JetLite.

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Jet Airways' JetPrivilege and United Airlines' Mileage Plus forge partnership

Jet Airways, will forge a frequent flyer partnership with United Airlines, one of the largest international carriers based in the United States, effective November 15, 2008.

With this partnership, Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege members may now earn and redeem JPMiles on the entire global network of United Airlines, and, United Airlines’ Mileage Plus members may now earn and redeem their miles on Jet Airways' services to 64 destinations in India and beyond. More details are available on Jet Airways' website.

United Airlines operates more than 3,200 flights a day to more than 200 U.S. domestic and international destinations from its hubs in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

United, along with German carrier Lufthansa, had commenced the Star Alliance. Readers will recall that recently Lufthansa has committed itself to helping Air India become a partner of the Star Alliance. It will be interesting to see how this partnership evolves. Ideally, I would like to see Jet Airways become a full fledged Star Alliance member.

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