Jet Airways plans daily, direct Mumbai-Johannesburg flights

Jet Airways plans daily, direct Mumbai-Johannesburg flights; to sign code-share deal with Kenya Airways

Jet Airways, based in Mumbai, India, has sought the permission of India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation to operate daily, non-stop flights from Mumbai to Johannesburg, the biggest city in South Africa.

If permission is granted, Jet Airways will become India’s first airline to fly to South Africa. Update: Mumbai – Johannesburg flights from April 15, 2010.

An official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation was reported by the media as saying that Jet Airways is keen to start services to South Africa in time for the football World Cup which kicks off in South Africa on June 11, 2010.

In a statement, Jet Airways, the largest airline in India by the number of passengers flown, also said it will enter into a code-share agreement with Kenya Airways to connect to the northern areas of Africa. This move coincides with the recent efforts being made by India to boost economic relations with countries in the African continent.

Jet Airways said that it will, in order to bank on the demand in northern Africa, sign a code-share agreement with Kenya Airways, the flag-carrier airline of Kenya, to operate flights between Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and the country’s biggest city, and India. This means that even while Jet Airways will not fly to Nairobi, the code-share pact will let it sell tickets to Nairobi.

According to the official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, previously there was a clause in the bilateral pact between Indian and South Africa that allowed only one airline to fly from Mumbai to South Africa. Now, the restriction has been lifted, and any carrier is allowed to operate service to South Africa.

At present, Air India, the national flag-carrier airline of India, and South African Airways, the national carrier of South Africa and the country’s biggest domestic and international airline company, connect India and South Africa.

Air India, which does not fly to South Africa, has a code-share agreement with South African Airways. (Code-share is a ticket-selling alliance, which lets passengers connect seamlessly to destinations on flights of more than one carrier).

South African Airways operates 4 flights a week between Mumbai and Johannesburg.

According to aviation analysts, there still remains a huge potential for more flights between India and South Africa because of the non-resident Indians and the people of Indian origin living in South Africa and also young Kenyans wishing to come to India for studies.

An official of Jet Airways said the carrier is planning to use initially the wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft on the Mumbai-Johannesburg route and that the company has adequate number of spare Airbus A330 planes to start flights on the route, but did not give any more details about the proposed service.

Jet Airways currently operates services to about 18 destinations in North America, Europe, West Asia, and South-East Asia.

In the quarter ended September 2009, Jet Airways’ share of revenue from its international operations had gone up to as much as 62% from 12% in 2005-06.