Jet Airways to re-convert flights to economy service in lean season

Mumbai: In a bid to fend off increasing competition from low-cost rivals and also cut costs and increase revenue in a lean season, Jet Airways (India) Ltd says it will convert one-third of its domestic flights into its all-economy service, Jet Airways Konnect.

Company executives said the move would release an extra 20-25% seats though the yield from each plane is expected to reduce by 10-15%, as aircraft are divested of higher-priced business class seats.

Jet Airways launched Konnect as a no-frills service in May 2009 in a bid to cope with the economic slowdown and reduced passenger demand. It reconverted most of these Konnect flights to full-service flights last year September as passengers returned to air travel in droves.

Jet Airways is India's largest airline by passengers carried.

The March quarter is a traditionally weak quarter in terms of passenger demand and passengers tend to opt for low-cost options. Jet's strategy to reconvert to the Konnect option can be achieved without much fuss, according to airline executives, without incurring too much costs or impacting flight schedules.

Though yield will come down, Jet will save on costs by as much as 30% because of cost savings in terms of catering and flight attendants.