Jet Airways allows more free miles for passengers to compete with Vistara

Full-service carrier Jet Airways is giving stiff competition to new entrant Vistara by offering more privileges on select routes.[caption id=“attachment_2062523” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Offering competition. Reuters[/caption] “Jet Airways has announced triple its normal free miles under the JPMiles programme on business class and double the base JPMiles on economy class bookings for travel till March 31. The “promotion is applicable for travel between Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad Sectors only”, it said on its website."— a report on The Economic Times said. The new airline, which is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons, currently operates flights between Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. On 7 February, Jet Airways had reported its first operating profit since the last three months of 2012, after benefiting from a drop in fuel costs and a rise in revenue. Operating profit reached Rs 3 crore for the three months of Q3 ending 31 December. The steep fall in aviation turbine fuel has contributed to the revenue growth buy cutting down operational costs. The Naresh Goyal-led airlines has been regularly offering discounted fares both on national and international routes. On last Republic Day, Jet Airways where Etihad has a share of 24 percent, limited period discounted fares for destinations across the US, Europe and Middle East. The offer was also applicable for economy fares on Jet Airways domestic network for travel between 1 March and 30 September. A company statement said that the discount can be availed in both economy and premier fares on the airline’s international flights. Following suit Vistara had also announced similar discounts offering fares as low as Rs 1,468 for travel between 20 January and 15 April this year. As if fare cut was not the only way to lure in fliers, Jet Airways on 16 January also decided not to charge any fee for cancellation and date change requests within 24 hours from passengers who book their tickets through the airline’s website. The waiver can be availed only within 24 hours of booking a ticket. Prior to that the airline was charging Rs 5,000 for cancelling an international journey ticket and Rs 3,000 for changing the journey date. For the domestic sector, the fee for cancelling or changing the date of journey was Rs 1,750. Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 117 aircraft to across 71 destinations both in India and abroad.