Jet2.0 plans to fly by early 2022

Jet Airways, which has been shut for more than two years after mounting financial losses, is planning to resume service by the first quarter of 2022. This will be the first case of an airline revival through India’s insolvency process.

In June, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had given approval to the resolution plan of a consortium of Uzbekistan-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan and London-headquartered Kalrock Capital.

A person involved with the airline's business plan said the company had started engaging with aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to revive Jet’s operator permit which lapsed.

Jet 2.0 has also given a firm plan to Airport Authority of India (AAI) and private airport operators to restart operations with 20 aircraft. “While efforts are on to restart operations by the end of this year so that it can benefit from the buoyancy in air traffic during Christmas and new year, if that doesn’t happen, it is certain to have its first flight by first quarter of 2022. The plan is to scale up to 20 aircraft by the first four to six months of operation and connect 30 cities in the first phase,” the person said.

The airline has appointed key executives in engineering, flight safety, operations and security-- many of whom were long time employees of Jet. While it has appointed Sudhir Gaur, former head of Jet

Airways operations and training, as accountable manager, who will have corporate authority for ensuring that all tasks comply with regulations, Vijoy Kumar has been brought in as head of engineering and Stephen Dmello as head of security. Both were working with Jet before its grounding. “While it was mandated by NCLT to employ 50 former Jet Airways staff, already 150 people have been hired. It will increase further,” the person said.

Industry sources said that the airline is inclined to start operations with Boeing 737 NG and is in talks with the aircraft manufacturer to revive the 737 MAX order of Jet Airways of which it had an orderbook of 225 aircraft. While five were delivered to the airline, it stopped when the airline faced a financial crisis. “The air operator's permit of Jet Airways has both 737 NG and 737 MAX. But India cleared 737 MAX only last week. So while the airline is likely to start with 737 NG, it is in discussions with Boeing to revive the earlier order for MAX. The lessors and manufacturers have said that aircraft will be available,” an industry source said.

The Jet Airways order was transferred to Boeing Capital, the manufacturer’s leasing subsidiary.

This means a new Jet Airways could hypothetically reinstate this order.

In the plan, Jalan-kalrock consortium have proposed to pay lenders Rs 385 crore against the total claim of Rs 7,807.74 crore. Out of that Rs 185 crore will be paid upfront within 180 days after start of operations of the company, whereas Rs 195 crore will be paid through issuance of zerocoupon bonds, each of Rs 1,000 face value after two years. It has also offered 9.5 percent stake to the lenders and 7.5 per cent in loyalty program Jet Privilege Private Limited (JPPL).

The NCLT bench had however declined to give historic rights over the historic slots of Jet Airways, and had instead asked DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to help the airline to obtain slots. When it shut operations, the airline had close to 700 such slots pairs including 116 and 214 in prime airports of Delhi and Mumbai.

“The discussion with the regulator and all airport operators has been very fruitful and they have promised full support,’’ he added.