Jet Airways to resume operations in 2022

Indian Airlines Jet Airways is set to resume domestic flights in the first quarter of the year 2022 and shorter international flights in the second half of 2022 after a two-year-long hiatus, the Jalan Kalrock Consortium announced on Monday. 

“The process of reviving the grounded carrier is on track with the existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) already under process for revalidation. The Consortium is working closely with the relevant authorities and airport coordinators on slot allocation, required airport infrastructure, and night parking,” the consortium said in an official statement.

The airlines, dubbed as one of the most successful Indian airlines at one time, halted operation in April 2019 and is returning with domestic and international flights after a two-year halt.

Jet Airways had to halt operations with immediate effects due to heavy losses and because no emergency funding was forthcoming. The airline was unable to pay for fuel or other critical services to keep the operations going.

The Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan alliance had won the bid for the Jet Airways airline in October 2020. It was reported by PTI that they will make a total cash infusion of Rs 1,375 crore in the airline and lenders will take a steep haircut on their admitted claims of over Rs 7,800 crore under the approved resolution plan.

The Kalrock-Jalan plan to resume flight-related operations had been approved by the NCLT on June 22 this year. The Mumbai bench of the NCLT had given the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) 90 days from June 22 to allot slots to Jet Airways.

According to PTI, an amount of Rs 900 crore would be invested for capital expenditure and working capital requirements for the smooth functioning of the airline, as per the detailed order published by the tribunal at that time.

In March, Vinay Dube, the former CEO of Jet Airways and GoAir, announced that he is planning to start a domestic airline with five aircraft in 2021.  The former JetAirways CEO had reportedly collaborated with his airline colleagues Praveen Iyer and Nikhil Ved for the venture and talked to Airbus and Boeing, the aircraft manufacturers, a report by CNBC-TV18 said.