Goyal optimistic of air traffic growth, pegs it at 15pc

Mumbai, Jan 13 (PTI) The country''s largest airline JetAirways today said it expects around 15 per cent spike indomestic traffic as a whole and around 20 per cent rise ininternational traffic over the next five years.

"We believe, the domestic traffic will grow by 15 percent while the international traffic by 15-20 per cent in thenext five years," Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal toldreporters on the sidelines of a hotel summit here.

Jet is also expected to clock a similar growth intraffic, Goyal said, adding the revenue will also grow in thesame proportion. "This will enable us to bring down the costof operations per unit and also improve our Ebidta andprofitability," he added.

Jet has at present 49 aircraft on order with 29 Boeing737-800s, 10 Airbus 330s and 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. "Thedelivery of Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A330s is expected tostart from FY13, while the Dreamliners are scheduled to bedelivered from FY15 onwards," he said.

Goyal, however, virtually ruled out placing largeaircraft orders saying, "aircraft orders are not a problem...

It''s the easiest thing to do; but, can your balance sheetsupport it?"

His comments come just one day after the low-cost carrierIndigo placed the single largest order in the history ofcommercial aviation with Airbus to buy 180 aircraft worth USD15.6 billion.

Jet is following a "relatively modest" aircraftacquisition strategy, Goyal said, adding "we have to be verycareful in adding capacity... Jet has added capacity of 8-10per cent over the last three years, he said.

"We are not running after market share and have to ensurethat the bottom-line is alright," Goyal added.