There are lots of Indians who used to prefer travel on AI just because of the food. They were mostly the elderly type. Just curious if 9W's US flights have caused a dent to AI's load factors?

In a booming market, these changes will be hard to calculate for us outsiders. Having said that, two things still apply:

1. The Indian people should be happy to have another 'Indian' airline as an option to Air India.

2. Air India is supported by tax payers money. I doubt they care for load factor as much as some private operator, since everything I have read about them seems to suggest that they do not care about service, cleanliness, etc.

Having seen some cabin shots of both airlines on various websites, I think it is pretty obvious that most people would prefer Jet over the Indian Government Airline. So no surprises if Jet are indeed poaching Air India from Air India.

In future, I think global alliances will play a much bigger role in deciding which of these two carriers survives.

Actually they have. When AI started its nonstop service from BOM, they found that people continued to prefer Jet's one-connection service via BRU.

As for Indians preferring AI because of food, I am sure many did, but language used to be another factor. Many families, elderly, etc., favored AI because of language comfort---an elderly couple felt they could talk to desk- and cabin staff as well as fellow travelers. Of course that is not an issue with Jet. Even foreign carriers have recently started hiring FA's that can speak Indian languages and people may be getting used to that.

Depends on fares, too. If 9W doesn't price itself out of the market, it will take share from AI. Many passengers doing NA-India are highly price sensitive - and are willing to put up with some minor inconvenience for cheaper fares. I don't think AI's impending Star Alliance membership is going to transform it overnight into another airline, nor do I believe that highly price sensitive passengers are going to find this a determinative factor in its favour.

Well, 9w's food internationally (I have only tried BOM-SIN-BOM recently) is *terrible* both ways. (kids meals also weren't edible)

Even domestic food on 9w is better.

I would think that AI's food is quite decent, and my mother who flew AI in J/F recently was commenting on how good/tasty the food was, including the amounts offered....

I think you are in the minority holding that opinion.

in Y - join me anytime...then join me on a domestic flight.

Have you tried the coffee on board - absolutely horrible!