Jet Airways spreads its wing to Hong Kong, Shanghai, San Francisco and the Gulf

Jet Airways has announced an aggressive expansion plan for its international operations that will see the launch of services to three new international regions in the next couple of months – Hong Kong, San Francisco and the Gulf.

Mumbai-Hong Kong
Starting 14 April 2008, Jet will connect two prominent Asian financial and commercial hubs of Mumbai and Hong Kong with direct daily services. The introduction of this flight will also make Hong Kong the sixtieth destination that Jet will fly to.

Jet Airways' flight 9W42 (Mumbai-Hong Kong) will depart Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 0100 hrs and arrive at Hong Kong International Airport at 0915 hrs. The return flight, 9W41 (Hong-Kong-Mumbai) will depart Hong Kong International Airport at 1905 hrs and arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai at 2310 hrs.

The flight timings on this route have been carefully planned to offer optimum convenience to the business traveler with an early morning arrival into Hong Kong and return to Mumbai/India by the end of day.

Announcing the launch of this new flight, Naresh Goyal, chairman, Jet Airways said, ''Hong Kong, as the gateway to South China, is a very important destination for Jet Airways given the large volume of business and leisure travel between the two financial capitals. Moreover, we believe that there is great potential in the India-Hong Kong sector for an airline such as ours that combines superb service with world-class reliability and efficiency.''

Jet Airways will deploy brand-new Airbus 330-200 aircraft on this sector, which have a two-class configuration - Première and Economy.

Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco
Effective 5 May 2008, Jet will launch daily services from Mumbai to San Francisco via Shanghai. With the commencement of this flight, Jet will become the first Indian carrier to operate non-stop daily flights to Shanghai from Mumbai, and onwards to San Francisco.

Apart from connecting two prominent Asian financial and commercial hubs, Mumbai and Shanghai, the flight to San Francisco will also drastically cut down the traditional flying time between India and the US west coast.

In the reverse direction Jet will become only the second airline in the world to connect Shanghai and San Francisco, catering to the large business and leisure travel between the two cities. San Francisco also hosts a strong Chinese presence being home to the largest Chinatown in the United States.
 
Jet's flight to San Francisco International Airport will also be the airline's fourth daily departure from India to North America, following new launches of service from New York's JFK and Newark airports, and Toronto Pearson International Airport, within the past year.

Announcing the launch of these new flights, Naresh Goyal, chairman, Jet Airways, said,  ''With the introduction of this new transpacific route to San Francisco aboard Jet Airways, we continue our airline's unprecedented expansion throughout North America.  I am immensely proud of our team's accomplishments of launching four new long-haul routes in less than a year. My vision is that by 2010, the airline should be rated among the top five airlines in the world.  Having changed the way people fly in India, we are now taking to the world our very own brand of service and style that bespeaks the spirit of New India. "

Jet Airways transpacific flights aboard the airline's brand new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft will offer unprecedented levels of luxury, privacy and comfort in the air, including First Class suites with the world's longest airline beds, private closets, dining tables for two, and 23" flat-screens.

Première (business) class seats offer what are considered the most comfortable Business Class seats in the sky that convert to 73"-long totally flat beds. Leg-room in Economy is more generous than the norm - and passengers in all three classes have access to the state-of-the-art Panasonic eX2 entertainment system, complete with 200+ movies, games and endless music choices.
 
The Gulf
Jet Airways launched its operations to the Gulf in January 2008 and currently flies to four destinations in the region- Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat and Doha. Introduction of services to Abu Dhabi will take the number of destinations it covers in the Gulf to five.

Jet Airways has also announced the enhancement of its services to Muscat and Doha, with the introduction of daily direct flights on the Kochi – Doha and Mumbai-Muscat sectors, effective 18 April and 21 April 2008 respectively.

Jet Airways' flight 9W556 (Kochi-Doha) will depart Kochi International Airport at 2200 hrs, and arrive at Doha International Airport at 0020 hrs. On the return leg, Jet Airways' flight 9W555 (Doha-Kochi) will depart Doha International Airport at 0150 hrs and arrive at Kochi International Airport at 0850 hrs.

Jet Airways' flight 9W540 (Mumbai-Muscat) will depart Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 2230 hrs and arrive in Muscat's Seeb International Airport at 2359 hrs. On the return leg, Jet Airways' flight 9W539 (Muscat-Mumbai) will depart Muscat's Seeb International Airport at 0050 hrs and arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai at 0505 hrs.

These flights will complement the airline's present daily services from Kozhikode and Kochi to Muscat, as well as from Kozhikode and Mumbai to Doha respectively.

Announcing the launch of these new flights, Naresh Goyal, chairman, Jet Airways, said, ''The India-Gulf sector has traditionally witnessed large volumes of both business and labour traffic. Due to the encouraging passenger demand on these sectors, the airline has decided to connect Mumbai-Muscat and Kochi-Doha with daily, direct flights.''

Jet Airways will introduce its world-class service on the Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft with Premiere and Economy class configuration.

Jet Airways will also mark its first foray into the United Arab Emirates with daily, direct flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Abu Dhabi effective 23 April 2008, expanding its network of destinations in the Gulf region to five.

Jet Airways' flight 9W582 (Delhi-Abu Dhabi) will depart Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2100 hrs and arrive at Abu Dhabi International Airport at 2340 hrs. On the return leg, flight 9W581 (Abu Dhabi-Delhi) will depart Abu Dhabi International Airport at 0030 hrs and arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at 0510 hrs.

Jet Airways' flight 9W584 (Mumbai-Abu Dhabi) will depart Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 2145 hrs and will arrive at Abu Dhabi International Airport at 2330 hrs. On the return leg, flight 9W583 (Abu-Dhabi-Mumbai) will depart Abu Dhabi International Airport at 0020 hrs and arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai at 0450 hrs.

Announcing the launch of these new flights, Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways, said, ''The launch of Jet Airways' operations to Abu Dhabi is an important boost to the airline's growing route network in West Asia. Trading links between India and the United Arab Emirates having existed since long and the relationship between the two countries has been traditionally close and friendly- resting on firm foundations of political, economic and cultural links. It is our belief that Jet Airways, with the excellence of its dual-class service offering and competitive fares, is optimally positioned to cater to both passenger segments on this route.''

Jet Airways will introduce its world-class service on the Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft with Premiere and Economy class configuration.