
Berlin: Jet Airways
is considering a surcharge on check-in baggage.
Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said airlines
have to look at additional revenue sources
in view of mounting losses.
Goyal, who is at Berlin
Air Show ILA said some American airlines are
already charging a similar levy and added
that there was no way for the global airline
industry but to raise fares due to the hike
in global crude prices.
"The aviation industry
has to raise the fares as and when the hikes
come. I am not in a business where I should
only look for capacity. At the end of the
day, I will have to work to give profits to
my shareholders," Goyal was quoted as
saying by PTI.
Goyal also took delivery
of a new Airbus A-330-200 at the Air Show
ILA, which is the seventh such aircraft out
of Jet Airways total order of 15 A-330-200s.
He also announced the
launch of daily services from Mumbai to San
Fransisco via Shanghai from June 14.
Goyal said that initially,
"We are going to lose money" on
this flight. But this is a calculated risk
and we are going to take that risk,"
he said. The airline will operate a Boeing
777-300 ER on the route."
He also referred to the
India-London route, which also started with
losses. "But today we have a share of
35 per cent on this route," he said.
Last week, low-cost carrier
Deccan was reported to be considering surcharge
on check-in baggage. Rising fuel prices have
already forced airlines to increase the surcharge
on fuel several times in the last one year.