NEW DELHI: Clearing another major hurdle, Jet Airways has successfully operated all proving flights and is now looking forward to receiving its air operator certificate (AOC) by aviation regulator DGCA.
According to people familiar with the development, the airline conducted its last set of two proving flights on Tuesday with 31 people, including officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on board. The carrier had on Sunday conducted the first set of three proving flights with 18 people, including the DGCA officials on board.
The airline is expected to get its crucial AOC revalidated this week. Proving flights is the last step for the airline to obtain the AOC. A total of five landings (five flights) have to be done by the aircraft to successfully complete its proving flights.
“We have successfully conducted our proving flights over two days, and we now look forward to the grant of the AOC by the DGCA,” said spokesperson of Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, the new owners of the airline. The two proving flights on Tuesday were conducted on Delhi-Hyderabad and Hyderabad-Delhi routes using the carrier’s Boeing 737 plane while the three proving flights that were conducted on Sunday were on Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad-Delhi routes using the same plane. Jet Airways had on May 5 conducted its test flight to and from Hyderabad in a step toward obtaining the AOC.
If everything goes well, the airline plans to restart commercial flight operations in July-September quarter this year. The new owners have already made key appointments, including the appointment of aviation veteran Sanjiv Kapoor as the Chief Executive Officer. The full-service carrier, which once ruled India’s civil aviation space, stopped flying more than three years ago due to shortage of funds.