No nod yet for Jet’s Shanghai flight

The much-awaited Mumbai-Shanghai flight of a private Indian carrier...

The much-awaited Mumbai-Shanghai flight of a private Indian carrier — the first non-Chinese airline to be allowed operations from the neighbouring country — might not take off any time soon owing to some technical problems.

China’s ambassador to India Zhang Yan said on Wednesday that the Jet Airways, which plans a Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flight, would have to still wait longer to begin its operations to Beijing. “Of course, there are some technical problems. The Government of both sides and competent authorities are discussing these things,” Zhang Yan said, adding, “There is some progress and some more progress will be seen in this regard.”

While India had promptly given the go-ahead to Chinese carrier, Great Wall, soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing earlier this year and China was expected to reciprocate almost as quickly with regard to Jet Airways, the clearance to its venture is still pending, as reported by The Indian Express earlier this week. Yan too did not specify the time-frame for granting permission to the Jet Airways.

“This depends on the consultation process between the two sides,” the envoy said, while speaking at a seminar on “A Road to Chinese Market” here.The right to fly to Shanghai is crucial for Jet Airways, which plans to develop Shanghai as its second hub after Brussels. If Jet does get the go-ahead, it will be the first time that a non-Chinese airline would be allowed to operate from China.

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