With even the Prime Minister’s visit to China this January not helping Jet Airways’ efforts to fly to the US west coast via Shanghai, the carrier has all but given up hope on the China front. Now, it has written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation requesting for permission to fly via Hong Kong to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The only Indian airline besides national carrier Air India to be allowed to fly to international destinations, Jet Airways is in a hurry to start its operations to the US west coast and has requested that it be allowed to do so via Hong Kong by May 2008, well before rival Kingfisher launches its non-stop flight from Bangalore to San Francisco in August.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation confirmed that Jet Airways had requested for the permission. “They have asked for operations via Hong Kong, and the issue is being examined. India has only signed a fresh bilateral agreement with Hong Kong in December 2007 which allows the Indian side to operate 27 services from any point in India. The Hong Kong carriers can operate 10 services to Delhi, six to Mumbai and 11 to Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. So it will have to be seen whether the proposed new Jet Airways flights can be accommodated along the sector,” said a senior official.

Even nearly two months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to China and Jet Airways receiving an in-principle approval to fly to the country, Chinese authorities were “still dragging their feet” over allowing India’s designated carrier to fly to Chinese cities as reported by The Indian Express earlier.

... contd.