India-based Jet Airways changed up their North America routes earlier this year, given that the airline has been bleeding money for a long time. The airline used to operate a mini-hub out of Brussels, and operated flights from Newark and Toronto to Brussels, with connecting flights to Delhi and Mumbai.
In theory it seemed like an efficient network, since the flights were timed so that travelers could transfer from Newark and Toronto to either Delhi or Mumbai, and vice versa. Unfortunately the bigger problem was that without nonstop flights between North America and India, they didn’t really have a competitive advantage over any other airline offering one stop service between the regions.
So they changed up their strategy, and eliminated Brussels as a hub. They discontinued flights to Newark altogether, and kept operating a flight to Toronto, except via Amsterdam instead of Brussels. As part of this, the airline launched a strategic partnership with Delta and KLM, with extensive codesharing.
The idea was that Delta and KLM would provide the feed to Amsterdam, and then Jet Airways could carry passengers from Amsterdam to India. Based on what I’ve heard, the partnership has been quite successful so far.
Jet Airways A330 business classs
Well, Delta just put out a press release indicating that this partnership is being expanded. For those of us into miles & points, perhaps the most exciting part is that reciprocal mileage earning & redemptions will soon be possible network wide between Delta and Jet Airways:
Air France-KLM Flying Blue members are already eligible to earn and redeem miles on all routes operated by Jet Airways and vice versa. Soon, Delta SkyMiles and Jet Airways’ Jet Privilege members will also enjoy network-wide, reciprocal mileage earning and redemption privileges.
This is great news, since previously reciprocal mileage opportunities only applied on codeshare routes. Soon SkyMiles members will be able to earn and redeem miles throughout Jet Airways’ network.
Jet Airways A330
I assume award pricing for Jet Airways will match what Delta charges on all their other partner airlines… not that they publish what those prices are. 😉
There are also rumors that Jet Airways will be expanding their North America route network again soon, as they’re in the process of taking back some 777s from Etihad. Perhaps we’ll even see them add a nonstop flight between the US and India. However, that’s all speculation at this point.
(Tip of the hat to Rapid Travel Chai)
Looks like it's confirmed that they'll fly 77W on YYZ-AMS-DEL starting Jan 2017. That's a good chance to try their First Class product.
The most interesting development here is Delta cozying up to an Etihad Invested Airline. Etihad owns about 24% of Jet Airways, looks like all that rhetoric against ME carriers is falling flat on its face.
Also, Jet Airways is part of Etihad Alliance, so ceertainly don't expect them to be part of Sky Team.
I enjoy flying on Jet Airways. The service and the cabin is very soothing. Glad to see this development.
Code sharing should be made illegal. It reduces competition and Jacks up the price.
They've had this arrangement with AF / KLM for some time. However, you only earn the base Award Miles. No Level Miles or Elite Bonuses. Not sure how it works with Delta.
https://www.flyingblue.com/earn-and-spend-miles/airlines/partner/188/jet-airways.html
Air India is way ahead in terms of international network. They recently increased frequency of DEL-SFO route to 6x weekly and are going to launch DEL-MAD-DEL 3X weekly from 1december, 2016. Their code share partners also give more options than that of 9W.
@Abhinav Agarwal - I believe those load factors are sometimes deliberate. flights this long operated by 777-200s cannot operate at close to full capacity. They leave a little bit extra capacity untouched to account for certain risk variables of the flight path, weather conditions..etc so basically 75% is the 100% on these nonstop sectors . If they were operated by A350XWBs then they can do so at 100%
Air India nonstops to JFK, EWR and ORD rarely cross 80% loadfactors, and mostly hover around 70%.. I wonder, what destinations are left for Jet Airways to choose in North America. San Francisco could be a possible destination as Air India constantly has nearly 90% loads on 3 per week frequency, but Air India will soon increase it to 7 per week as well..
With this new arrangement, it would be great if Delta also flew to AUH or DXB, since Jet Airways has quite a few useful connections from the United Arab Emirates to India, including smaller airports they don't server from AMS. Of course I don't imagine this is likely.
Air India nonstops to JFK, EWR and ORD rarely cross 80% loadfactors, and mostly hover around 70%.. I wonder, what destinations are left for Jet Airways to choose in North America..
As someone with family in India, this is wonderful news to me. I've flown most of the carriers in India, and Jet Airways is considerably better than the alternatives. The only downside was the lack of (official) alliance membership. If this means it will become a full SkyTeam member, that would be even better news.
I wonder how long the Jet Airways/AAdvantage partnership will survive