Jet Airways hopes to have over 70% of its planes back in air in the next one month as the SBI-led consortium provides the beleaguered airline interim funding, its top brass told the government on Tuesday.
The airlines’ management, including Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube and Chief Financial Officer Amit Aggarwal, met officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the airline’s operations.
“Our discussions were on how the airline can provide enough aircraft so demand can be met and passengers are not put to any hardship due to either rise in airfares or large cancellations,” Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a press briefing.
The airline currently has only 35 planes flying out of the total fleet of 103 planes and will aim at getting 40 more planes airborne by April end, the officials said.
Mounting dues
Nearly 50 planes have been grounded due to non-payment of lease rentals, while others are inoperable because of maintenance issues which have led to large-scale flight cancellations.
The airline’s Chairman Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita stepped down from the Board on Monday, effecting a resolution plan under which an interim fund of ₹1,500 crore would be pumped in by the lenders.
The airline will hold discussions with the lessors in the next few days to arrive at a settlement, following which it will provide further details to the government early next week on availability of aircraft. The Ministry will then assess whether slots held by Jet Airways at various airports need to be distributed among others airlines to cater to demand in the market.
“As per slot allocation guidelines, if a slot is not utilised in a season, it can be withdrawn but we are thinking... if slots can be given for an interim period. But it all depends on [discussions with Jet Airways on] Monday or Tuesday ” Mr. Kharola added.
The Ministry has also advised airlines to not indulge in predatory pricing given the mismatch in demand and capacity due to unavailability of a large chunk of Jet Airways’ planes. Jet’s financial distress, combined with the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes, has resulted in as many as 60 planes being removed from the domestic market and an 8% fall in capacity.