Ayush Bansal
Image: travelobiz
Jet Airways on Monday announced that it has appointed four new senior executives days after aviation regulator DGCA granted a revalidated Air Operator Certificate, allowing the airline to resume commercial flight operations.
More than three years after it was grounded, Jet Airways is set to resume flights in September as it received the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the civil aviation regulator on Friday.
With Jet Airways ready to fly, the competition is likely to intensify among Indian carriers hit hard by various headwinds.
The airline has appointed Prabh Sharan Singh as a chief digital officer, H R Jagannath as vice president of engineering, Mark Turner as vice president of inflight products and services, and Vishesh Khanna as vice president of sales, distribution, and customer engagement, it said in the statement.
Turner — who also has more than 40 years of aviation experience — led Jet Airways’ inflight services team between 2008 and 2011 and has held senior management positions at Gulf Air, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Fiji Airways, it said.
Aviation regulator on Friday granted Jet Airways the Air Operator Certificate (AOC), allowing the airline to resume commercial flight operations.
Share Action
The shares of Jet Airways were locked in the 5 percent upper circuit on Monday after India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted the airline the air operator certificate (AOC) — under its new owners, the Jalan-Kalrock consortium, thereby allowing it to resume commercial flight operations.
Jet Airways opened at ₹118.95, up ₹5.65 or 4.99 percent against the previous close of ₹113.30, and was locked in the 5 percent upper circuit post opening.
On the NSE, it was trading at ₹119.20, up ₹5.65 or 4.98 percent after opening. The airline can now restart commercial flight operations after remaining grounded for more than three years.
With this, Jet Airways will be the first Indian carrier to revive operations under the country’s insolvency and bankruptcy law. The airline is expected to resume operations in the July-September period. Aircraft and fleet plan, network, and other details will be available in phases over the coming weeks.
“The company has started posting job opportunities and its ex-employees will get a preference in hiring,” according to Sanjiv Kapoor, CEO, of Jet Airways.
We have our AOC, and now we focus on building up the rest of our team as we prepare to resume operations! pic.twitter.com/IhAv64nXaC
— Jet Airways (@jetairways) May 21, 2022
Company History
The Naresh Goyal-founded Jet Airways, which operated its first commercial flight on May 5, 1993, flew commercially for the last time on April 18, 2019, as it collapsed under a pile of debt
.The company then entered bankruptcy proceedings and was acquired by a consortium of UAE-based businessman Murari Jalan and UK-based Kalrock Capital.
The consortium has committed to the funding $180 million, of which $60 million will be used to repay the airline’s existing dues.
With DGCA officials onboard, Jet Airways had successfully operated five proving flights on May 15 and 17 and intends to restart its commercial flight operations in the July-September quarter.