Dear Netizens,

Here's something to cheer you. Jet Airways has announced Incredible discount fares till April 30, 2007 EXCLUSIVELY for Online Bookings. Avail this fabulous offer and enjoy travel validity till September 30, 2007!. What's more, you can make your bookings 5, 7 and 10 days prior to date of travel.

So what are you waiting for? Book your discount tickets at jetairways.com NOW.

Just remember – these special WEB fares are only for W class

• can be bought only in INDIA in INR
• valid on certain sectors for select flights
• cannot be combined with any other fare type and children & infant discount cannot be availed of
• tickets are non-refundable and cannot be re-issued. No date, class or sector changes will be permitted. However if unused portion of ticket is presented for refund, only the taxes will be refunded. The base fare is non refundable
• free baggage allowance of 20 kgs. is permitted. 2 piece concept is not allowed. If the baggage exceeds this allowance, excess baggage charges of 1.1% of the Normal Economy class fare will apply
• JPMiles earned would be 20% of the base JPMiles
• passengers are requested to carry their photo ID for check-in

Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal said on Monday Air Sahara and Jet Airways will operate as separate entities and there are no plans to merge the two. Speaking to reporters after announcing the makeover of the Jet Airways, Mr Goyal said Air Sahara will be renamed Jetlite, and positioned as a cross between a low-cost carrier and a full-service airline.

He talked of a "new model" which will have lower costs because of synergies already existing between Jet and Sahara. He said they will be renegotiating prices and sharing training facilities, which will also bring down costs, thereby making this model profitable, Mr Goyal said.

The two airlines together will have around 33 per cent market share in the Indian aviation market after the takeover. The combined revenue would be $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2008.

On the acquisition of Air Sahara, Mr Goyal said, the deal does not include acquiring Air Sahara’s debts, but will involve acquiring the working capital losses incurred by Air Sahara.

He reiterated that the acquisition cost of Air Sahara would be Rs 1,450 crores. This puts the enterprise value of Air Sahara at Rs 1,250 crores. The payment, he said, would be made in four equal interest-free installments between March 2008 and March 2011. The first installment of Rs 400 crores would be paid by April 20. Jet had, in March last year, paid Rs 500 crores when the deal was announced — that is before it fell through.

Asked about how he would fund the Air Sahara acquisition, Mr Goyal said that Rs 400 crores would be raised from the margin money it placed with the State Bank of India for issuing a Rs 1,500 crores bank guarantee to Air Sahara for freeing the escrow account of the same amount.

Asked whether any of Sahara employees would be rendered redundant, Mr Goyal said that those who will not be absorbed would be absorbed into the Sahara group. "Every useful asset of Air Sahara would be used by Jet such as its staff, landing and traffic rights, infrastructure at airports such as hangars, besides manpower including technical people," he said.

He said the customers too would benefit because if a Jetlite flight gets cancelled or delayed, a passenger can be accommodated on the Jet full-service flight. Mr Goyal said Jet Airways does not plan to cancel Air Sahara’s order for new 737 aircraft, deliveries of which will take place between 2009 and 2011.

"We will negotiate with Boeing for better pricing for the new aircraft," he said.

Courtesy : Asianage.com

The Secunderabad-based Goldstone Technologies Ltd. has signed an agreement with Asia Today Ltd., Mauritius, a subsidiary of Zee Telefilms Ltd., to market, sell and distribute Zee channels to subscribers in eight countries in the Asia Pacific region on its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service. These channels include Zee TV Asia Pacific, Zee Premier, Zee Classic, Zee News, Zee Business, Zee Music, Zee Smile, Zee Punjabi, Zee Gujarati, Zee Bangla.

Goldstone will use patented technology for triple-play services which will deliver video at only 600 kbps, a company statement said. The technology allows a set top box to be connected to a TV for watching live channels, content on demand as well as Internet browsing without a PC. Goldstone is setting up a Network Operating Centre in Singapore, which has already signed agreements with several other Indian and European channels for global distribution, also plans to provide other features including on demand movies, game shows and serials. Goldstone’s IPTV services are expected to be operational soon under the brand name TV Origin, initially targeting NRI audience.

Goldstone expects subscriber base to touch 100,000 by the end of the first year of its operations.

N K Rawal, CEO of Goldstone group, said, "Our agreement with Zee Network will enable us to take significant advantage of Zee’s extensive reach in expanding our IPTV services globally. We enter this market with a patented technology which is both cost effective and offers the highest quality content on minimum Internet bandwidth."

Courtesy : Asianage.com