Mumbai: Jet Airways’ domestic operations now comprise just 12-15 planes, making it the smallest operating pan-Indian carrier and also, according to industry experts, ineligible to fly on international routes.
Meanwhile, the debt-laden airline, where lenders have now taken control, has told its Boeing 737 pilots that they could apply for long leave of absence without pay.
Jet is flying 29 planes — ten 737 NGs, seven ATR turboprops for short local routes, and a dozen wide-bodied Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s, said a person close to the matter, compared with 124 planes in December. The four A330s and eight Boeing 777s are used for operating medium and long-haul international flights while the 737 NGs fly on domestic and neighbouring international routes and the ATRs on short local routes. The count is expected to fall further.
In a communication to the Bombay Stock Exchange Tuesday, the airline said it grounded 15 more planes, but didn't give the current fleet size. It has in several similar piecemeal announcements since January 2019 announced the grounding of close to 55 planes. It has told regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation that it has a plan to have 75 planes operating by the end of April.
Data sourced from real-time air-traffic-tracking application Flightradar24 over the past one week have shown Jet to be operating 5-10 domestic flights at any time of the day and an equal or higher number of international flights. Vistara, India’s smallest scheduled airline, has 22 planes. Of these, 16 were flying in the afternoon, around the time only eight Jet flights were showed in the local skies.
“Indian rules say an airline has to have a 20-aircraft fleet and 120 daily domestic flights to fly international. As such, Jet is undoubtedly flouting the norms,” said a senior executive at a rival carrier.
A Jet spokesperson refuted this. “Jet Airways is in compliance with applicable guidelines relating to RDGs (Route Dispersal Guidelines) and international operations,” she said. She didn’t respond to questions seeking confirmation on the number of planes operating and how many were deployed on domestic routes.
03/04/19 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
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Meanwhile, the debt-laden airline, where lenders have now taken control, has told its Boeing 737 pilots that they could apply for long leave of absence without pay.
Jet is flying 29 planes — ten 737 NGs, seven ATR turboprops for short local routes, and a dozen wide-bodied Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s, said a person close to the matter, compared with 124 planes in December. The four A330s and eight Boeing 777s are used for operating medium and long-haul international flights while the 737 NGs fly on domestic and neighbouring international routes and the ATRs on short local routes. The count is expected to fall further.
In a communication to the Bombay Stock Exchange Tuesday, the airline said it grounded 15 more planes, but didn't give the current fleet size. It has in several similar piecemeal announcements since January 2019 announced the grounding of close to 55 planes. It has told regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation that it has a plan to have 75 planes operating by the end of April.
Data sourced from real-time air-traffic-tracking application Flightradar24 over the past one week have shown Jet to be operating 5-10 domestic flights at any time of the day and an equal or higher number of international flights. Vistara, India’s smallest scheduled airline, has 22 planes. Of these, 16 were flying in the afternoon, around the time only eight Jet flights were showed in the local skies.
“Indian rules say an airline has to have a 20-aircraft fleet and 120 daily domestic flights to fly international. As such, Jet is undoubtedly flouting the norms,” said a senior executive at a rival carrier.
A Jet spokesperson refuted this. “Jet Airways is in compliance with applicable guidelines relating to RDGs (Route Dispersal Guidelines) and international operations,” she said. She didn’t respond to questions seeking confirmation on the number of planes operating and how many were deployed on domestic routes.
03/04/19 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
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