The Jet Airways airline is expected to resume its commercial operations in the later part of this year. It has seen its aircraft take off on last Thursday after being grounded for three whole years due to a crash crunch.
The test flight landed back at Hyderabad airport after ninety minutes as it took off from the same place. The Boeing 737-800 aeroplane left for Delhi from Hyderabad on the same day, later. This Aircraft was subsequently leased by SpiceJet after the grounding of Jet which leased it originally in the first place. In the coming days, the airline expects to commence proving planes and restart other activities from September.
The airline tweeted from its official Twitter handle on May 5th that the day marked the 29th birthday of the company as Jet Airways flew again on that special day. It was really an emotional day for all of them who had been praying, working and waiting for the day and also for the loyal customers of Jet who are actually eager for Jet to start their workings again.
Proving flights are scheduled to fly in the upcoming days as the airline marked its return with a test flight. As part of the process of getting an AOC (air operator certification) by a particular airline, proving flights are operated. It will mean the revalidation of the AOC in this case of Jet Airways.
In another late-night tweet on Thursday, Jet Airways explained about operating a test flight in Hyderabad earlier that day and also positioning to Delhi a ferry flight thereafter. These flights were not proving flights. The schedule for proving flights will be determined jointly with DGCA, which are expected in the upcoming days.
The aircraft, VT-SXE, operated a positioning flight as 9W101 to Delhi from Hyderabad on Thursday evening. Some pictures of the aircraft and also the workers who were seen celebrating this extraordinary day were shared from a post from the official Twitter account of the airline.
Future plans:
So far, the airline has hired almost two-hundred people for the future operations across functions. According to the spokesperson of the company, the operations will start after three months presumably. It will be in the July-September quarter this year, which is Q3.
Sanjiv Kapoor, a veteran executive of aviation was appointed by the airline earlier this year. As the CEO, chief executive officer of Jet Airways India Ltd., he helped in steering SpiceJet Ltd through a tough period of time. Also, Vipula Gunatilleka, formerly the CEO of Sri Lankan Airlines, was appointed as the chief financial officer or CFO.
Mr. Kapoor was also seen to post a picture of him with Vipula on Thursday on Twitter. The caption read that the two were celebrating the return of the airline’s call-sign and aircraft which was like a rebirth on the company’s birthday.
On May 5, 1993, the airline first started its journey. But on April 18 in 2019, as it collapsed under a tremendous pile of debt, it operated its last commercial plane. The consortium of UK-based Kalrock Capital and Murari Jalan, a businessman based in UAE acquired the company subsequently after this as it entered proceedings of bankruptcy. As compared to the previous close of the airline, its shares were trading at more than 3 percent higher at almost 89 apiece on Friday in India.