JetLite

JetLite
IATA ICAO Callsign
S2 JLL LITE JET
Founded 1991 (as Sahara Airlines)
Operating bases Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi)
Frequent-flyer program Jet Privilege
Fleet size 8
Destinations 24
Company slogan Emotionally Yours
Parent company Tailwinds Limited
Headquarters Mumbai, India
Key people Naresh Goyal (Owner)
Website www.jetairways.com

JetLite, is a low-cost subsidiary of Jet Airways.[1] It was formerly known as Air Sahara until the buyout by Jet Airways which rebranded the airline as JetLite.

History

Former Air Sahara Logo

The airline was established on 20 September 1991 and began operations on 3 December 1993 with two Boeing 737-200 aircraft as Sahara Airlines, as part of the major Sahara India Pariwar business conglomerate. Initially services were primarily concentrated in the northern sectors of India, keeping Delhi as its base, and then operations were extended to cover all the country. Sahara Airlines was rebranded as Air Sahara on 2 October 2000, although Sahara Airlines remains the carrier's registered name. On 22 March 2004 it became an international carrier with the start of flights from Chennai to Colombo, later expanding to London,[2] Singapore, Maldives[3] and Kathmandu. It had also planned to become the first private Indian carrier to serve China with flights to Guangzhou[4] from winter 2006, however this did not materialize. The uncertainty over the airline's fate caused its share of the domestic Indian air transport market go down from approximately 11% in January 2006 to a reported 8.5% in April 2007.

Buyout by Jet Airways

Jet Airways announced its first takeover attempt on 19 January 2006, offering US$500 million (₹20 billion) in cash for the airline.[5] Market reaction to the deal was mixed, with many analysts suggesting that Jet Airways was paying too much for Air Sahara. The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry gave approval in-principle, but the deal was eventually called off over disagreements over price and the appointment of Jet chairman Naresh Goyal to the Air Sahara board. Following the failure of the deal, the companies filed lawsuits seeking damages from each other[6]

A second, eventually successful attempt was made on 12 April 2007 with Jet Airways agreeing to pay ₹14.50 billion ($340 million). The deal gave Jet a combined domestic market share of about 32%.

On 16 April Jet Airways announced that Air Sahara will be renamed as Jetlite.[1] The takeover was officially completed on 20 April, when Jet Airways paid ₹4 billion.

Rebranding to JetKonnect

Jetlite was merged with Jet Airways' inhouse low cost brand JetKonnect on 25 March 2012 as a move towards operating under one brand.[7] On 1 December 2014 JetKonnect was integrated into Jet Airways ending its own operations, and now flies for them under code share, using its own Air Operators Certificate and flight code S2 till merger of the two companies is completed after approval. The aircraft fleet is also progressively being repainted in Jet Airways livery.[8]

Corporate Affairs

The key trends for Jet Lite (India) Limited ('Jet Lite') over recent years are shown below (as at year ending 31 March):

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Revenue (₹: INR lakhs[nb 1]) 157,947 178,615 190,386 201,136 176,364
Profits (₹: INR lakhs) 4,619 −10,747 −18,403 −29,523 −42,931
Departures 39,602 39,003 41,992 38,160 31,986
Load Factor (%) 75.0 79.2 77.9 74.8 72.7
Number of aircraft (at year end) 25 19 19 15 12
Notes/sources [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
  1. ↑ 1 laks = 100,000

Destinations

A Jetlite Boeing 737-800 at Kathmandu Airport
A Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft in Air Sahara livery at Ranchi Airport c.2005

As of December 2016, JetLite flies to 24 destinations throughout India. The airline is based at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.[14]

Fleet

As of April 2016, JetLite operates the following aircraft:[15]

JetLite fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-700 3 — ? —
Boeing 737-800 5 — ? —
Total 8 0

In-flight services

JetLite had a buy on board service called JetCafé,[16] offering food for purchase in Economy, while free meals were offered in Business class.

Incidents and accidents

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to JetLite.


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