NEW DELHI: Even as hunt for a new investor for the bankrupt Jet Airways is underway, the government is learnt to have extended the validity of all Jet Airways slots allocated to other airlines by another three months.
Post the ‘temporary’ grounding of the airline in mid-April, the government, through a committee comprising of officials from Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India and private airport operators, had methodically allocated a large number of Jet Airways slots to all domestic airlines for a period of three months till September to fill in the demand-supply gap. The committee had also allocated Jet’s international flying rights to other airlines till September.
Among the carriers, the major beneficiaries of this allocation process were IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara. The three carriers have increased their operations significantly from major airports such as Delhi and Mumbai, where Jet had a strong presence.
Jet Airways’ temporary suspension had left a void of over 750 slots, out of which around 480 slots were allocated for a period till May. SpiceJet got 130 slots, IndiGo 127, Vistara 110, GoAir 44 and AirAsia 42.
When talks of Jet’s revival gained momentum last month, airlines were said to have held discussions with authorities to reduce glitches once Jet would start flying again. However, since Jet received no serious expressions of interest despite the banks extending the deadline to August 10, it is unlikely that it would restart operations anytime soon. There is a strong buzz now that Jet, which received claims worth `30,000 crore from creditors, is now headed for liquidation.
Separately, IndiGo and SpiceJet will shift operations from terminal 2 (T2) to terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi from September 5, due to capacity enhancement work to be carried out in T2. SpiceJet on Tuesday announced shifting its entire operations at Mumbai to terminal 2 from October 1, giving an indication that Jet has lost its stronghold in the busy airport.