2013-04-16 — /travelprnews.com/ — Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, and South African Airways (SAA), the national carrier of South Africa and the only airline with non-stop flights between Mumbai and Johannesburg, are pleased to announce a code share agreement enabling seamless connectivity between India and South Africa. The code share opens for Sale effective April 16th 2013, for travel effective April 18th 2013.
Under the codeshare arrangement Jet Airways will code share on South African Airways’ flights between Mumbai and Johannesburg and beyond to Cape Town and Durban. SAA will code share on Jet Airways’ operations between Mumbai and Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. The agreement will effectively enhance flight choices for customers, whether originating in India or Africa, through seamless and convenient connections and frequent flyer mileage opportunities.
According to Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, “Jet Airways is delighted to enter into a codeshare partnership with SAA, South Africa’s national carrier. Besides its global popularity as a tourist destination, South Africa, in its capacity as Africa’s largest economy, is also a strategic trade and investment destination. With the seamless connections offered between India and South Africa, we are confident that this mutually beneficial codeshare will prove extremely popular with both business and leisure travellers.”
“The partnership strengthens the historic commercial, political and cultural cooperation between South Africa and India. “In essence, the agreement further supports the objectives of the BRICS member states”. It will help meet the high demand for air travel between India’s large business hubs and South Africa” said Manoj Papa, SAA’s acting General Manager: Commercial.
A recent study conducted by the Department of Tourism indicated that the number of tourists from India to South Africa has steadily increased in recent years by over 122% between 2005 and 2010 and a further 29% increase between January and September 2011.
South Africa and its emerging demand for leisure travel also offer India great growth potential. India is also gaining prominence as a business travel destination from South Africa.
“The additional connectivity between Southern Africa and India as a result of the codeshare relationship between Jet Airways and SAA will help strengthen tourism and trade ties between our two countries”, said Papa.
Furthermore, customers who are members of SAA’s loyalty programme, Voyager, will be able to earn and redeem miles as well as obtain tier status when travelling on Jet Airways on SAA marketing flights. Likewise, members of Jet Airways’ Jet Privilege programme will also be able to earn and redeem JPMiles earn Tier points/Tier JPMiles when they travel on SAA flights marketed by Jet Airways. This provides an opportunity for customers to spend miles exploring the various Indian and South African destinations on offer.
About Jet Airways
Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 101 aircraft, which include 10 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, 10 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 4 Airbus A330-300 aircraft, 59 next generation Boeing 737-700/800/900 aircraft, 17 ATR 72-500 and 1 ATR 72-600 turboprop aircraft. With an average fleet age of 5.45 years, the airline has one of the youngest fleet of aircraft in the world. Flights to 72 destinations span the length and breadth of India and beyond, including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Bangkok, Brussels, Colombo, Dammam, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kathmandu, Kuwait, London (Heathrow), Muscat, New York (Newark), Riyadh, Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto.
About JetKonnect
The new JetKonnect service is a dedicated product designed to meet the needs of the low fare segment. JetKonnect will also offer guests a Premiere service on nearly all domestic routes. With its mixed fleet of Boeings and ATR aircraft with over 500 daily flights connecting 52 destinations across India, JetKonnect provides more flexibility and choice to its guests. JetKonnect’s convenient schedules, reliable service and low fares promise to bring greater value and a seamless flying experience to our customers.
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