New Delhi: With the revival of Jet Airways edging closer, the air carrier has shed some light on its comeback plans and said it will return to the market with a hybrid approach. In a recent interview, the newly appointed CEO of Jet Airways, Sanjiv Kapoor said Jet plans to be a “full-service airline with an economy class that can compete at LCC fare levels.” However, Kapoor refused to reveal the detailed comeback plan of the bankrupt airline, which is now helmed by a new set of owners.
Jet Airways will have a two-class configuration where business class passengers will be offered services including free meals, said Kapoor said in an interview with ET Now. “The economy class will, however, be modelled similar to low-cost carriers where flyers pay for meals and other services,” he said.
He pointed out that it is very difficult in the domestic Indian market to take on the cost of the food and everything else in economy class, where the customer in India chooses primarily on the basis of fares, adding, “Let’s just accept that and let’s not burden ourselves with extra cost.”
The original Jet Airways was the only private full-service operator in India until the launch of Vistara in 2015, where passengers were served free meals and drinks and a higher calibre of service onboard. It collapsed in 2019 under a pile of debt as it struggled to maintain its market share with the launch of low cost airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet.
According to Kapoor, the new Jet will be a new type of hybrid, where full service and low-cost exist on the same plane. Explaining the meaning of the term ‘hybrid’ means, Kapoor said, “Let’s just say it means different things to different people”, adding that Jet will be a “full-service airline with an economy class that can compete at LCC fare levels.”
After it’s collapse, Jet Airways became the first airline to enter a reformed insolvency resolution process. The Jalan Kalrock consortium emerged as the winner of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)-monitored insolvency and resolution process in June 2021. “The new owners — Dubai-based, Indian-origin businessman Murari Lal Jalan and Florian Fritsch, the chairman of London-based financial advisory and alternative asset manager Kalrock Capital Management Ltd. — have pledged to make investments of as much as USD 120 million,” Kapoor informed.
Jet had earlier planned had planned to restart its operation in ‘early 2022’, however, the launch window is now seen sometime around October.
Kapoor said that Jet Airways’ Air Operator Permit (AOP) approval will come by the end of April. “It is a very complicated, lengthy and stringent process and we’re in the final stages now. We want to make sure that all the pieces are in place. We expect a few more months after the Air Operator Permit (AOP) to be ready to restart operations,” he said.
