Low-cost carrier Air Deccan has signed a strategic alliance with private airline major Jet Airways for code sharing, pooling engineering resources and accommodating passengers in case of flight cancellations.
The alliance would enable a passenger to book a ticket from London to fly to Kolhapur, where Jet Airways is not flying. The first leg of the travel, London to Mumbai would be in Jet while the second leg would be in Air Deccan from Mumbai to Kolhapur.
"This will help Jet Airways to fill up seats and take on competition posed by Air-India, British Airways, bmi and Virgin Atlantic. For Air Deccan, it will help in filling in seats and revenue generation," said industry analysts.
Air Deccan MD G R Gopinath confirmed the development adding, "Jet Airways and Air Deccan will pool engineering resources also to streamline operations and bring down operating costs."
As a result of this alliance, passengers of a cancelled (or delayed) flight can be accommodated in the other airline for a standard rate based on the duration of flights and the number of passengers.
Air Deccan is currently operating 265 daily flights covering 55 airports while Jet Airways is flying to 48 destinations with 320 flights a day.
Industry analysts pointed out this strategic arrangement is going to benefit both airlines mutually "as the cancellations and delays are at equal level for Jet Airways and Air Deccan."
"This will also put an end to the chaos at airports arising out of flight cancellation of any these operators. Several times severe pilot shortages are leading airlines to cancel the flights. To an extent, this arrangement will mitigate these risks," they added.
Jet Airways is operating 43 classic and next generation B 737-400/700/800/900 aircraft, three Airbus A34-300, one Airbus A330-200 and eight modern ATR 72-500 turboprop.
Air Deccan is operating 14 Airbus A320 and 21 ATR turboprop aircraft. The scrip of Deccan Aviation, promoter of Air Deccan, rose 14.46 per cent on the BSE at Rs 74 against previous day's closing of Rs 64.65.
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