Jet Airways recently signed a codeshare agreement with Hong Kong Airlines to enhance connectivity between India and the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the reciprocal agreement, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on Hong Kong Airlines’ flights operating between Hong Kong and Okinawa and Tokyo in Japan; Denpasar in Indonesia; Hanoi in Vietnam; Bangkok in Thailand; and Auckland in New Zealand. Hong Kong Airlines will place its marketing code on Jet Airways’ flights between Hong Kong and Mumbai as well as Delhi in India. The agreement was signed by Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways and LI Dianchun, Chief Commercial Officer, Hong Kong Airlines.
Speaking about the agreement, Shanmugam said, “We are very happy to partner with Hong Kong Airlines. Codesharing is a part of our growth strategy; we look forward for a very fruitful partnership with Hong Kong Airlines. We operate twice daily to Hong Kong, to work with Hong Kong Airlines for connecting traffic to the codeshare markets gives us a opportunity to give our customers new flexibility. We have a load factor of 80 per cent form Mumbai and Delhi to Hong Kong. We are looking at six destinations in this codeshare.”
With the new codeshare, Jet Airways frequent fliers can also avail the benefit of redeeming JP miles on Hong Kong Airlines flights where Jet codes are placed. Shanmugam added, “We are working towards a more integrated loyalty programme benefit. As of now Jet Airways’ passengers can avail the benefit of loyalty programme on Jets Code on Hong Kong Airlines flights. A more integrated relationship will come with time. This will not only be available for redemption but also count towards their tier status in the programme.”
Hong Kong Airlines currently flies to 36 major cities across the Asia Pacific region, including Gold Coast, Auckland, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Tokyo, Sapporo, Seoul, Bangkok, Bali and Okinawa. With this partnership Hong Kong Airlines will provide additional connectivity from Hong Kong to Delhi and Mumbai to their customers.
Speaking about the benefits of the codeshare Dianchun said, “Hong Kong Airlines is fairly a new airline with close to 10 years of experience. But Jet Airways has its presence around the globe with more international routes. With this codeshare we will carry Indian passengers to the Far East, South East Asia and New Zealand, which will increase the connectivity for the Indians in the Asia Pacific routes. It’s a good opportunity for us to give more options to the passengers. Last year we carried about 6.4 million passengers and the load factor is around 82 per cent. The performance is very good. Last year we expanded to 11 new routes. From our observation, there has been great potential in the India market as increasing travellers from India tend to transit via Hong Kong to Japan, South East Asia and even farther to Auckland. By connecting Hong Kong with Mumbai and Delhi, the new agreement enables passengers from these key cities to travel seamlessly to a bunch of popular destinations in Hong Kong Airlines’ network.”
Speaking about the success rate of codeshares and further plabns for Jet Airways Shanmugam added, “We are giving the customer connectivity and choice. We also extend our reach. We believe that if we go alone we go far but with partners we go further. We have over 600 codeshare flights across our network with 20 codeshare partners. We continue to evaluate several relationships. When it makes economic sense for us and mutual partnership, we will add more codeshares.”
