Jet Airways has this month begun switching over a number of its domestic flights to its low-cost carrier Jet Airways Konnect, the latest sign of mainline carriers turning to budget carriers as a solution on Indian routes
Jet Airways Konnect took over Jet's Kolkata flights to Delhi, Bagdogra and Guwahati early in September, and over the next month will take over more domestic flights from Delhi and Mumbai
Kingfisher Airways, which prided itself on its in-flight service, has already shifted 70% its domestic flights to its no-frills brand Kingfisher Red and could increase that in the next months.
All eyes will be on national carrier Air India, which will begin to switch some of the domestic services to the low-cost carrier model from late September. Company officials say that the services are likely to be operated by low-cost subsidiary Air India Express, which already flies to several international destinations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia out of the country.
This comes as state-owned Air India asked the government for a bail-out after huge losses, with a spokeswoman for Indian civil aviation minister Praful Patel saying that the move could help it to "compete more effectively with the privately-owned carriers, which increasingly offer more low-cost options on most of the domestic routes".
An Air India official says that the carrier has identified 27 schedules on which low-cost flights can be operated, and it ultimately hopes to convert 70% of its total domestic operations to the model.
All of this comes amid the success of dedicated low-cost carriers like IndiGo, SpiceJet and Go Air in the Indian domestic market. Domestic passenger traffic in India increased by 14% in July from a year before as the airline market showed some signs of recovery.
Source: Flight Daily News
