Air India announces special fares for stranded Jet international passengers
New Delhi: Suspension of Jet Airways’ operations has not only rendered its employees jobless but also it has severely affected passengers who had made advanced booking with the grounded carrier. Stranded passengers of Jet are neither getting refunds nor they are able to book spot tickets for their return journey, mainly, on international routes as spot ticket prices have gone up due to flight cancellation by Jet.
In order to help the stranded passengers of Jet Airways who are stuck abroad, state-owned carrier Air India has announced “special stranded fares”. According to a report in the Times of India, the special fares will apply to some flights from London, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Muscat to Mumbai and Delhi.
Suspension of Jet flights has also created an opportunity for other domestic carriers as it has created vacant slots at completely chocked Mumbai Airport. Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo are trying to induct new flights to tide over the shortage caused by grounding of Jet Airways.
Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani has asked State Bank of India to lease to it Jet’s five Boeing 777s. The Maharaja wants to start five additional flights — Mumbai to London and Dubai, and Delhi to London, Dubai and Singapore. Lohani also asked AI Express to consider taking in Jet’s grounded Boeing 737s.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet has taken on lease a large number of Boeing 737s that lessors repossessed from Jet to tide over the shortage caused by the grounding of its B737 Max. The airline on Thursday said it would “induct six more Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on dry lease in addition to 16 B737s and 5 Q400s. The total number of planes to be inducted in the immediate future now stands at 27”.
SpiceJet also announced 24 new flights connecting Mumbai and Delhi with other Indian cities. Of these, 20 will connect Mumbai with other cities, including Delhi.
