Wolfgang Prock-Schauer in New Delhi on Monday. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, Dec. 11: Drawing up ambitious global plans, Jet Airways today said it would fly to three cities in North America and double the pilots on its rolls to 1,400 by 2008-09.

The airline also said it would fly to Bangkok from Calcutta and Delhi. The inaugural flights are from January 23 next year.

“We will be the 12th airline to fly international out of Calcutta and ours will be the 100th weekly flight out of the city,” a Jet Airways executive said.

Jet also has plans for flights from Mumbai and Chennai to Bangkok.

Jet CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said Calcutta would be the gateway for onward travel to Buddhist holy sites. He also said the early morning arrival into Calcutta from Bangkok would also provide convenient connections to other cities served by Jet.

Sources, however, said Calcutta was chosen over other cities to cash in on the heavy traffic out of the city to Thailand. A Calcutta-Bangkok return ticket in the economy class is Rs 6,500 and in Club Premiere between Rs 18,500 and Rs 26,000. For Delhi, in the economy class it is Rs 13,500 and in Club Premiere, between Rs 28,500 and Rs 38,000 (These are introductory offers from Jet, valid for two months and exclusive of taxes).

Jet will fly to New York via Brussels next year followed by flights to South Africa, Kenya and another flight to San Francisco via Shanghai.

Jet expects to be a major player in the Gulf when the sector is opened up by 2008.

Prock-Schauer said Jet has targeted to earn 50 per cent of its revenues from its international operations by 2009. The share is now 20 per cent.

Jet, which commands 40 per cent of the domestic market, already flies to the UK, south Asia and Southeast Asia.

The Jet CEO said the company would take delivery of 22 long-haul, wide-bodied aircraft by October 2008 to be used for the international operations. The company plans to start flights to Toronto and Shanghai from October 2008.

Jet will face competition from entrenched player Air- India which is planning to expand its fleet.