Bangkok--17 May--Image Impact
Jet Airways, the India-based international carrier, took delivery of its first Airbus A330 aircraft on order at a ceremony held last Friday, making the airline the first Indian based carrier to receive an aircraft in the A330 product range. Jet Airways ordered 10 Airbus A330s in October 2005.
The A330-200 aircraft was handed over to Naresh Goyal, Chairman Jet Airways, in a ceremony attended by John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, and other top company executives at Airbus’ delivery centre in Toulouse, France.
“Introducing the A330 into our existing fleet will be relatively seamless as we already operate the A340 and two leased A330s which share a common cockpit,” said Chairman Naresh Goyal. “We chose the A330 because it fits in with our long term strategy to operate efficient aircrafts that best fit the mission laid down and to provide our customers with the most modern and comfortable fleet around,” he added.
The airline already operates leased A340s and the A330s between India and the United Kingdom and plans to use the A330s on a mix of regional and long-haul international flights.
“With the world’s fastest passenger growth in the near term in India, we are delighted to be a part of these exciting times through our partnership with Jet Airways. The A330 is not only a fantastically efficient aircraft operationally, but it also continues to offer leading standards of passenger comfort,” said John Leahy, Airbus’ COO - Customers.
With over 1,080 orders and 280 deliveries so far, the A330/A340 family has become the industry standard in the 250 to 375 seat category. In airline evaluations the A330/A340 family invariably wins favour for operational efficiency and passenger comfort.
About Jet Airways:
Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 62 aircraft with 49 classic and next generation Boeing 737-400/700/800/900 aircraft, 3 Airbus A340-300E aircraft, 2 Airbus A330-200 aircraft and 8 modern ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft. With an average fleet age of 5.3 years, the airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleet in the world. Jet Airways operates over 340 flights daily.
Flights to 50 destinations span the length and breadth of India and beyond, including London Heathrow in U.K., Singapore, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Bangkok in Thailand and Kathmandu in Nepal. The airline plans to extend its international operations to North America, Europe, Africa and Asia in phases with the induction of wide-body aircrafts into its fleet. Since inception in May 1993 until end-March 2007, Jet Airways has flown over 71 million passengers.
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