Jet Airways shuts down another international route

Jet Airways were probably the first private Indian carrier that made some serious forays into the international market. The national carrier Air India has been flying internationally for ages now, but in the private domain the only other carrier that briefly did fly some international routes was Kingfisher Airlines. The good times have long since ended and currently the only other players in this space are the Low cost carriers Indigo and SpiceJet servicing predominantly nearby East Asian and Middle Eastern destinations (limited by the range of their current aircraft equipment).

Jet Airways recently announced closure of yet another international route of theirs, the Mumbai-Saigon (BOM-SGN) route that stoped in Bangkok, effective 26 March 2016.The route was launched in November 2014, so it'll be closed just 17 months after it started.

Pic credit: ThreeLandTravel

Just a few months prior to launching the BOM-BKK-SGN route, Jet Airways brought in Vietnam Airlines as an airline partner. The idea could have been (speculatively) for Jet to feed traffic into SGN, from where Vietnam Airlines might take over. However, word is that the capacity on the full sector to SGN wasn't great. Also, the stopover in BKK meant competing with Thai Airways (which operates services to BKK from 7 Indian cities) which provides equally good connections to SGN (and elsewhere). And, BKK is the next best thing to a direct flight to SGN from anywhere in India. However, Jet Airways' BOM-BKK and DEL-BKK flights will continue to operate.

Which got me thinking about the various other Jet Airways international routes that once were and then got canned somewhere down the line. Here's what came to mind.

• MAA – CMB: Was in fact their first international route. Initially was a late morning service out of MAA and a quick turnaround made for an equally convenient departure time out of CMB. Also became a double daily at one point in time, Subsequently, timings changed and were all over the place, but still was probably the best option overall on this short leisure heavy sector.
• MAA – KUL: Used to run as a late night/ early morning service for quite a while before they cancelled it and now they code-share with Partner carrier Malaysian Airlines on the same route with a similar product.
• MAA – BRU: This was 9W’s only long haul service out of MAA. Had a good run as it offered good connectivity out of BRU onwards to JFK, EWR & YYZ. 
• MAA – DXB: Dubai on Jet Airways no more, but now offered as a MAA – AUH. ASan recalls flying this route, and that this used to be an all-economy flight but serviced using aircraft with 2 or 3 rows of business class seats (may have even been the continuing leg of an AMD-MAA flight).
• BOM – PVG – SFO: Short lived route aimed at connecting India with the Silicon Valley, which had a stop in PVG en route. Was quickly withdrawn and only now Air India have started servicing the Bay Area with their DEL – SFO flight 
• BOM – JNB: Was Jet Airways only service to the African continent. Again had a run of a few years before being axed. Code-share options still available via Kenya Airways. 
• DEL – MXP: Had a 2 year run and now services are offered via BRU which i’m presuming would change to AMS once the hub move happens as announced.
• DEL – CMB: Almost forgot about this route that ran for a brief bit back in 2010. Interestingly after a long hiatus, Air India now operate a daily on this sector. 
• CCU – BKK: Cancelled back in the middle of 2014. Interestingly as per current day schedules, Indigo run a double daily on this route and SpiceJet offer a single daily. 
• HYD – DXB: Was their first International service out of HYD. Now like the rest of the country offers a feeder service to Ethiad connectivity to neighbouring Abu Dhabi. 
• COK – KWI: Cancelled a few years back. Can't remember much of this!
• BLR – BRU: Ran for a short while. Was in effect aimed at servicing the huge IT market in Bangalore with connections to the US via BRU. 
• TRV – SHJ: Now offering more feeder flights to neighbouring AUH. 

I'm sure many readers were regulars on some of the above routes and now have had to shift loyalties and change their travel plans as a result. 

Do share any routes that we have missed out or possibly have forgotten. Also, feel free to share any specific or special memories on any of the discontinued services.

- Vinay