Jet Airways to acquire 20 aircraft for intl flights

MUMBAI: Jet Airways, which recently took over beleaguered Air Sahara, on Monday announced its expansion plans acquiring 20 wide-bodied aircraft for $2.1 billion.

Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal said the aircraft delivery will begin this month. It will comprise 10 state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300 (Extended Range) and 10 A330-200 Airbus aircraft.

Starting with the wide-bodied aircraft, Jet Airways has redesigned everything offering new products in the first, premier and economy classes.

It also holds options of further adding aircrafts of each type and have recently signed to purchase 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner with delivery commencing in 2011, which will cost the company $1.6 billion, Goyal said.

In all, Jet Airways will invest $3.7 billion in new aircraft for its aggressive growth strategy, he added.

All facilities offered will be premium and hence a premium will have to be paid by the passengers but the prices will be competitive, a senior Jet Airways official said.

Giving details of the configuration of its Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, Goyal said Jet Airways has created the first airline suite in the sky offering its customers the ultimate privacy and luxury.

Each of the eight first class suite providing over 26 square feet of usable space features dual sliding doors that gives complete privacy for the passengers, he said.

These suites will have the world's longest first class bed of 83 inches, massive 23 inch flat screen monitors and carefully designed storage areas, including a personal hanging wardrobe and under ottoman stowage.

The suite is also designed to allow dining for two, multiple lighting option, a variable lumbar support and an eight-point massage system.

While Boeing 777-300 ER will be configured in three classes, first class, premier and economy, the A330 will be configured in two classes of 30 premier and 190 economy seats.

Jet Airways will launch daily services to New York via Brussels in early August the Boeing 777. It also plans daily services to San Fransisco via Shanghai with B777 fleet in the winter of 2007.

The A330 will be deployed on daily Delhi-London services and flights from India to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Johannesburg and Toronto via Brussles.

All flights and services will have the new eX2 System developed by Panasonic for in-flight entertainment.

Goyal said Jet Airways believes in continuously redefining and enhancing the customer experience and the multi-million dollar investment reflects the same.

"Jet Airways vision is to emerge amongst the top five carriers globally in the next few years," he said.

"Having changed the way people fly in India, we will now take our very own brand of service and style, the spirit of New India, to the rest of the world," Goyal said.

The airline is operating a fleet of 62 aircraft comprising 49 classic and new generation Boeing 737-400/700/800/900 aircraft, three Airbus A340-300E, two Airbus A330-200 aircraft and eight modern ATR 72-500 turbiprop aircraft.

It operates over 340 daily flights to 50 destination that span the length and breadth of India and beyond including London Heathrow in UK, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Bangkok in Thailand and Kathmandu in
Nepal.