Jet Airways will shift its European base to Amsterdam by end of March, as operations from Brussels, which it has been using as its European gateway since May 2007, has turned uneconomical.
The full service carrier said on Monday that it would begin daily non-stop services between India and Amsterdam.
The move will also see Jet stop its daily flight from Delhi and Mumbai to Newark (New York) from the end of March. However, the airline will operate a daily service from Delhi and Mumbai to Toronto through Amsterdam, when the hub in Brussels closes. At the moment, the Toronto connection is via Brussels.
Chief Executive Officer Cramer Ball had signalled the move in an internal communication to employees last month, “Due to significant changes in the competitive scenario in Brussels and Europe, the Brussels gateway has become economically unviable and unsustainable, and therefore we may have to evaluate redeploying our assets and services,” he said.
Change in routes With effect from March 27, Jet Airways will operate two daily non-stop flights to the Schiphol Airport, one each from Mumbai and New Delhi. It will also operate a daily flight between Toronto and Amsterdam. At its peak, Jet Airways operated flights to Brussels from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, and also flights to Newark, New York and Toronto from Brussels.
The airline stopped its Brussels-Bengaluru flight in January 2009, shelved the New York-Brussels connection in September 2012, and the Chennai-Brussels connection in November 2012.
Realigning of routes at Jet started happening after its alliance with Etihad Airways. Abu Dhabi is now used by Jet to connect flights from India to European destinations. Commenting on the move, Ball said, “This is a significant step for Jet Airways and demonstrates our continuous endeavour to provide greater choice and better connections. Jet Airways’ two daily flights from India to Amsterdam will facilitate further growth in business and tourism.”
Code sharing agreements In further realignments, Jet Airways has also entered into strategic agreements with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Airlines for code sharing across North America and Europe.
Under this agreement – subject to government and regulatory approvals – Jet Airways will codeshare to 30 European destinations for travel between India and Europe via Amsterdam. Key destinations include Brussels, Berlin, Copenhagen, Munich, Madrid, Geneva and Vienna, operated by KLM.
Jet Airways will also codeshare with KLM and Delta on 11 destinations between India and the United States and Canada, including New York JFK, Newark, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Montreal.