Jet Airways eyes global footprint via Abu Dhabi

New Delhi, Apr 20: This could be the biggest ever global footprint plan firmed up by an Indian carrier. Jet Airways has decided to link 23 Indian cities to numerous points in the US (including a nonstop to San Francisco), Gulf, east Africa and Europe via Abu Dhabi. These flights will be in addition to the nonstops it operates directly from India to the west and Southeast Asia, which are going to be increased also.

Jet's has submitted its ambitious expansion plan to the aviation ministry at a time when the airline is all set to sell 24% stake to Abu Dhabi's Etihad for close to Rs 1,600 crore and hopes to get access to the oil rich emirate's low-cost funding. The airline, which currently has 100 aircraft in its fleet, has told the government it is in talks with Boeing to place a massive order for Boeing 737 Max and 777s.

According to the plan, Jet will kick-start this expansion by operating its wide-body aircraft like the Boeing 777 and Airbus A-330 from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai (in first phase) and Hyderabad, Cochin and Trivandrum (in second phase) to Abu Dhabi. Replicating its 'scissor' operation of Brussels on a much larger scale, these aircraft will then fly onwards to US cities like San Francisco, Washington, New York, Newark and Chicago. After a quick turnaround, these aircraft will then fly to the Indian metros via Abu Dhabi.

Jet's narrow-body Boeing 737, which will be deployed from other 19 cities, will be used to fly further on to nearby destinations in the Gulf and even some points in Africa.

The network planning of Jet given to the ministry indicates that all flights to Abu Dhabi from 23 Indian cities will leave at late night and reach there by midnight. The flights from India will reach there in time to for onward journeys on Etihad and Jet. The airline has told the ministry that as this model stabilizes after two to three years, it will connect Europe also via Abu Dhabi.

In addition to the flights via Abu Dhabi, Jet has sought more flying points in Europe like Paris, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Amsterdam, Manchester, Copenhagen and Barcelona to India. The airline expects a substantial passenger load on these flights to be of passengers flying between Europe and its other destination in Southeast Asia and China where it plans to restart operations to Shanghai.

Since implementing this plan will require a substantial addition to the fleet size, Jet has told the government that it will get back 5 widebody B-777s by next year that are leased to Thai Airways. The airline has an option for five A-330s and is in talks with Boeing to place an order for more B-777s. The Dreamliner B-787 will join its fleet from 2014.

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No relief for Siddaramaiah in MUDA case as HC junks plea against Governor's sanction

News Network

September 24,2024

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed the petition filed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah against Governor Thawarchand Gehlot's decision to sanction the complaint and investigation against him in the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam case.

Justice M Nagaprasanna said the facts narrated in the petition would undoubtedly require an investigation.

The court has also said that the Governor's order approving sanction to investigate against Siddaramaiah under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act does not suffer from application of mind, instead has abundance of application of mind.

Meanwhile, the court rejected the request made by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi to stay the order of the court. The court has vacated the interim order passed on August 19. In the interim order the trial court was directed not to take any precipitative action against Siddaramaiah. On August 17, Governor had approved sanction under section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 218 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita ( BNSS), citing three applications.

The court said the private complainants were justified in registering the complaint and seeking approval from the governor.

Insofar as private complainants seeking sanction under section 17A, the court said the provision nowhere requires only a police officer to seek sanction from a competent authority. The court further said it is in fact the duty of the private complainants to seek such approval.

Earlier, The High Court had completed its hearing in the case on September 12, and reserved its orders. It had also directed a special court in Bengaluru to defer further proceedings and not to take any precipitative action against the Chief Minister.

The case pertains to allegations that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife B M Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru that had higher property value as compared to the location of her land that had been "acquired" by MUDA.

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