CHENNAI: Jet Airways plans to resume operations from January next year if all goes well or from the summer of 2022, and has resumed talks with Chennai Airport for night parking facility for its aircraft, according to industry sources.
Sources told TNIE that Jet Airways plans to begin with one night parking slot initially in Chennai as it plans to resume operations with six aircraft. It is already in talks with Chennai airport officials. It is learnt that Jet will be launching four flights from Chennai to Mumbai after it starts its operations. There will also be four flights from Mumbai to Chennai. This is going to be a full service carrier with some tweaks due to the current environment. There will be long and short-haul international operations.
Jet Airways has planned operations to 14 destinations initially. These include Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Goa, Guwahati, Mangalore, Aurangabad, Aizawl, Kolkata, Nagpur and Dehradun.
The focus will be metro-to-metro connectivity first after which non-metro destinations will be linked. It is learnt that Jet Airways has been in talks with Mumbai and Delhi for night parking slots as well. The international operations will start within one year of domestic operations. Jet Airways is planning to have 20 aircraft in the domestic market due to the regulations and after that it is planning to fly internationally. It is learnt from sources that Jet plans to expand its operations by adding another 10 aircraft within three months’ time after launching operations and 20 aircraft within a year’s time.
The negotiations with the lessor and vendor are in progress and the letter of intent is about to be released. As a result, Jet Airways is in talks with various airport authorities for night parking slots. Jet Airways is planning to use Boeing’s 737 Max for its domestic as well as international operations. The Boeing 737 Max is fuel efficient and the Director General of Civil Aviation has approved it. India’s air safety regulator had cleared Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft to fly with immediate effect after ending nearly two-and-a-half years of regulatory grounding.
This comes as Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the successful resolution applicant of Jet Airways, has been in the process of reviving the grounded carrier with the existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC). QJet had suspended operations in April 2019 due to financial distress and had been undergoing a resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for two years.
Consortium behind revival
The Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the successful resolution applicant of Jet Airways, has been in the process of reviving the grounded carrier with the existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC)