Jet Airways

1992–2005: Inception

Jet Airways was incorporated as a limited liability company on 1 April 1992. It started operations as an air taxi operator on 5 May 1993 with a fleet of four leased Boeing 737-300 aircraft. The airline was granted a scheduled airline status on 14 January 1995. On 12 May 1994, all the shares were transferred to Tailwinds International, whose equity capital was held by Naresh Goyal (60%), Gulf Air (20%) and Kuwait Airways (20%). In October 1997, as per the directive of Ministry of Civil Aviation forbidding foreign investment in passenger airlines, Goyal took control of the entire company. The airline launched its first international flight in March 2004 from Chennai and Colombo. The company was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and became public on 28 December 2004, with Goyal retaining 51% ownership of the stock.

2006–2009: Growth and expansion

In January 2006, Jet Airways announced its intention to acquire Air Sahara for US$500 million in an all-cash deal; however, the deal fell through in June 2006. On 12 April 2007, the deal was back on track with Jet Airways agreeing to pay ₹14.5 billion (US$220 million). On 16 April 2007, Air Sahara was renamed as JetLite and was marketed between a low-cost carrier and a full service airline. JetLite became a wholly owned subsidiary of Jet Airways. In August 2008, Jet Airways announced its plans to integrate JetLite into Jet Airways. In October 2008, Jet Airways laid off 1,900 of its employees, who were later re-instated due to intervention from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. In October 2008, Jet Airways entered into an alliance with rival Kingfisher Airlines for code-sharing on domestic and international flights, collaboration on frequent-flyer program and sharing crew and ground handling equipment. On 8 May 2009, Jet Airways launched another low-cost brand, Jet Konnect. It operated a fleet of Boeing 737 Next Generation and ATR 72 aircraft and operated on profitable short-haul routes with higher passenger load factors.

2010–present: Consolidation

In the third quarter of 2010, Jet Airways became the largest airline in India with a passenger market share of 22.6%. In July 2012, the airline officially sought government approval to join Star Alliance. In June 2011, it became the first domestic airline in India to ban meat products and liquids in check-in baggage. Jet Airways merged the JetLite brand into Jet Konnect on 25 March 2012 and started offering business class seats after the shut down of Kingfisher Airlines. In 2013, Etihad Airways planned to buy a stake in the airline following the government's announcement in September 2012 that foreign airlines could take a stake of up to 49% in Indian carriers. On 24 April 2013, Jet announced that it was ready to sell a 24% stake in the airline to Etihad for US$379 million. The deal which was expected to be signed in January 2013 was postponed and was completed on 12 November 2013.

In 2013, the airline lowered prices and entered into fare war with low-cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet due to fall in passenger demand. In February 2013, the airline's market value dropped by ₹484 crore (US$72 million) owing to falling share prices. Jet Airways made profits in the third quarter of the financial year 2013-14, after posting losses over the previous year. Jet Airways announced on 11 August 2014 that it would phase out Jet Konnect by the end of the year as part of plans to re-position itself as a uniform full-service operator. On 1 December 2014, Jet Konnect was fully merged with Jet Airways, making it the third full service airline in India besides Air India and Vistara. In December 2015, Jet Airways announced the closure of its European scissors at Brussels Airport by March 2016 and opening of new hub at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport effective 27 March 2016. As of February 2016, it is the second largest airline in India after IndiGo with a 21.2% passenger market share.

Headquarters

The airline's head office is located at Siroya Center in Andheri, Mumbai. The head office was previously located at S. M. Center, a rented six-storey building in Andheri and was moved following criticism regarding the working conditions.

Financials

The company is listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange. 51% of the stock is owned by Naresh Goyal through his company Tailwinds International and the remaining 49% by other investors. The following table presents the key trends for Jet Airways and its subsidiaries (as of 31 March 2015):

Livery

Jet Airways' original livery was navy blue with light grey and chrome yellow. The top and bottom of the aircraft were painted in light grey with the flying sun logo in the navy blue background. In 2007, a new livery was created by Landor Associates which added yellow and gold ribbons; the design retained the dark blue and gold-accented colour scheme along with the airline's "flying sun" logo. A new yellow uniform was simultaneously introduced, created by Italian designer Roberto Capucci. Jet Airways introduced its new identity in conjunction with a global brand re-launch which included new aircraft and seating.

Destinations

Jet Airways serves 68 destinations including 48 domestic and 20 international destinations in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. The airline has its primary hub at Mumbai and secondary bases at Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Pune. In March 2004, the airline introduced its first international destination Colombo with flights connecting to Chennai. London was the airline's first long-haul destination and was launched in 2005. Since 2007, Jet Airways has had a scissors hub at Brussels Airport for onward transatlantic connections to Canada, which was replaced by Amsterdam Schiphol Airport from 27 March 2016.

In 2008, the airline was forced to discontinue international routes because these attracted losses due to global economic downturn; it terminated services to San Francisco and Shanghai. The airline planned to restore the Mumbai–Shanghai route by the end of 2011 but never did so. In 2012, the airline withdrew flights to New York and closed the Delhi–Milan route in 2013. On 1 March 2016, the airline announced the integration of domestic and international operations in Mumbai airport and moved its entire operations to the newly constructed Terminal 2.

Codeshare agreements

Jet Airways codeshares with the following airlines:

According to Business Traveller, SkyTeam CEO Perry Cantarucci admits that Jet Airways 'is the next target' to join SkyTeam, although currently Skyteam 'is not out recruiting' new members. Perry added that "We would love to talk to Jet about becoming a Skyteam member. And they know it."

Current

As of February 2017, the Jet Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Fleet development

Jet Airways placed its first order for four Boeing 737-400 and 30 Boeing 737-800 aircraft on 11 December 1996; and the first aircraft was delivered on 12 November 1997. It placed its second order for six Boeing 737-700 and two Boeing 737-900 aircraft on 14 June 1999 with deliveries starting in May 2001. On 5 January 2012, it inducted five ATR 72-600 series aircraft to operate on domestic regional routes. Long-haul routes are served using its fleet of Airbus A330-200, Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The airline placed an order for 10 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on 29 September 2005 which was delivered in 2007. Jet Airways ordered 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on 29 December 2006 to operate on long-haul routes. It placed a further order for 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on 23 April 2013 as part of modernisation of its fleet of 737s.

Cabin

Jet Airways has three classes of service: First, Première (Business) and Economy.

In-flight entertainment

Jet Airways has a Panasonic eFX flight entertainment system on board the Boeing 737 aircraft and Panasonic eX2 entertainment system on board the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft. The system, known as JetScreen, offers on-demand programming and operates via an individual touchscreen monitor on each seat. In 2012, the airline introduced a feature called eXport on their Airbus A330s, which allows passengers to plug-in their personal Apple devices. In February 2016, Jet Airways announced the introduction of an in-flight entertainment service for streaming of entertainment content directly to Wi-Fi enabled personal devices of the passengers.

Frequent flyer programme

JetPrivilege is the airline's frequent-flyer programme. A member can earn JPMiles during travel which can be redeemed during future bookings. JetPrivilege offers five classes namely: Blue, Blue plus, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Gold and Platinum members get access to Jet Airways' lounges and can avail additional benefits such as priority check-in, extra baggage allowance and priority baggage handling.

Airport lounges

Jet Airways offers lounge service to First and Première class passengers, along with JetPrivilege Platinum and Gold members. Premier lounges are available at Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai in India and all international destinations.

Awards and recognition

Accidents and incidents

Controversies

Jet Airways was expected to begin service to Newark via Brussels in June 2005. In March 2005, the airline submitted an application to the United States Department of Transportation; however, the application was opposed by Nancy Heckerman, CEO of a US registered company Jet Airways Inc., based in Bethesda, Maryland, alleging trademark infringement and connections to terrorist outfit Al Qaeda. Jet Airways rebuffed the claims. Asmin Tariq, a contractor working for the airline as a security agent at Heathrow airport was implicated in the foiled terror plot on 10 August 2006 to blow up several transatlantic airliners belonging to three different US airlines. Subsequently, the Governments of UK and Singapore inquired security-related information from the Ministry of External Affairs on Jet Airways; clearance was further delayed to fly to the US. The US State Department gave the go-ahead for the airline to fly to the US on 15 November 2006.

In August 2014, two pilots of Jet Airways were suspended after a plane carrying 280 passengers dropped 5,000 feet (1,500 m) mid-air en route from Mumbai to Brussels. In 2016, the airline was implicated in the Gupta family controversy in South Africa when it was alleged by former African National Congress MP Vytjie Mentor that members of the business family had offered her the position of Minister of Public Enterprises, on behalf of President Jacob Zuma, if she agreed to arrange for South African Airlines to drop their India route so that Jet Airways could acquire it instead.

On 2 December 2016, Jet Airways flight 9W7083 from Bhopal to Mumbai was held up by a large group of passengers headed for a marriage in Mumbai. There were allegations from other passengers that the wedding party was politically connected and attempted to coerce the cabin crew to disembark passengers, so that additional members of their party could be accommodated. The airline claimed it was a technical glitch in their booking system which led to overbooking.