Jet reduces capacity by 20% to wade through downturn

KUALA LUMPUR: India's private air-carrier Jet Airways on Tuesday said it has reduced its capacity by 20 per cent to survive the global economic crisis that has hit the airline industry hard.

"We have already reduced our capacity by 20 per cent and will do another 10 per cent," said Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal, who was here to attend IATA's 65th AGM, which concluded on Tuesday.

"We are all on ventilator in the ICU, we want to move to the general ward soon," he quipped.

He said it was a stroke of luck that his airline had not increased capacity in the last three years. "We have cut our domestic capacity and increased capacity to the Gulf where there is a strong demand from Indians."

Goyal added that some aircraft were on lease and the airline had deferred acquiring new aircraft.

Referring to the huge airport development costs imposed in Mumbai and New Delhi, Goyal slammed them as "murder", saying "instead of bringing the costs down, a hike will kill us". This is absolutely not fair to the industry, he added.

He felt that the absence of a regulator was a serious problem in India.

On the Jet Airways-Kingfisher alliance issue Goyal said, "We are discussing. Hope it happens."