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Jet Airways

IATA 9W ICAO JAI Callsign JET AIRWAYS
Founded	1993
Hubs	Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
Secondary hubs	Brussels Airport Chennai International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport
Focus cities	Ahmedabad Bangalore Hyderabad Kolkata Pune
Frequent flyer program	JetPrivilege
Member lounge	Jet Lounge
Subsidiaries	JetLite Jet Cargo
Fleet size	89 (+ 43 orders)
Destinations	80
Company slogan	The Joy of Flying
Parent company	Tailwinds Limited
Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Key people	Naresh Goyal, founder and chairman
Website	www.jetairways.com

Jet Airways is an airline based in Mumbai, India. It is India's second largest airline after Air India and the market leader in domestic sector. It operates over 400 daily flights to 80 destinations worldwide.

In July 2008, Which? magazine ranked Jet Airways as the world's best long-haul airline after Singapore Airlines.^[1] In a poll conducted by SmartTravelAsia.com in September 2008, it was voted as the world's seventh best airline overall.^[2] Jet Airways has also won a survey award for the quality of its catering from Which? magazine.^[3][4] Jet Airways also operates two low-cost airlines, namely JetLite (formerly Air Sahara) and Jet Airways Konnect.

History

Jet Airways was incorporated as an air taxi operator on 1 April 1992. It started Indian commercial airline operations on 5 May 1993 with a fleet of four leased Boeing 737-300 aircraft. In January 1994, a change in the law enabled Jet Airways to apply for scheduled airline status, which was granted on 4 January 1995. It began international operations to Sri Lanka in March 2004. While the company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 80% of its stock is controlled by Naresh Goyal (through his ownership of Jet’s parent company, Tailwinds, and has 10,017 employees (at March 2007).^[5]

Jet Airways Airbus A340-300E at London Heathrow Airport in 2005 with the 1993-2007 livery

Naresh Goyal, who already owned Jetair (Private) Limited, which provided sales and marketing for foreign airlines in India, set up Jet Airways as a full-service scheduled airline to compete against state-owned Indian Airlines. Indian Airlines had enjoyed a monopoly in the domestic market between 1953, when all major Indian air transport providers were nationalised under the Air Corporations Act (1953), and January 1994, when the Air Corporations Act was repealed, following which Jet Airways received scheduled airline status.

Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ER at San Francisco International Airport in the airline's new livery introduced in 2007

Jet Airways and Air Sahara were the only private airlines to survive the Indian business downturn of the early 1990s. In January 2006, Jet Airways announced that it would buy Air Sahara for US$500 million in an all-cash deal, making it the biggest takeover in Indian aviation history. The resulting airline would have been the country's largest^[6] but the deal fell through in June 2006.

On 12 April 2007, Jet Airways agreed to buy out Air Sahara for 14.5 billion rupees (US$340 million). Air Sahara was renamed JetLite, and was marketed between a low-cost carrier and a full service airline. In August 2008, Jet Airways announced its plans to completely integrate JetLite into Jet Airways.^[7]

In October 2008, Jet Airways laid off 1900 of its employees, resulting in the largest lay-off in the history of Indian aviation.^[8] However, later, the employees have been asked to return to work. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said that the management reviewed its decision after he analyzed the decision with them.^[9][10]

In October 2008, Jet Airways and rival Kingfisher Airlines announced an alliance which primarily includes an agreement on code-sharing on both domestic and international flights, joint fuel management to reduce expenses, common ground handling, joint utilization of crew and sharing of similar frequent flier programs.^[11]

On 8 May 2009, Jet Airways launched another low-cost airline, Jet Airways Konnect. The new airline uses spare aircraft from Jet Airways' routes that were discontinued due to low passenger load factors. It also uses the same operator code as Jet Airways. The decision to launch a new brand instead of expanding the JetLite network was taken considering the regulatory delays involved in transferring aircraft from Jet Airways to JetLite, as the two have different operator codes.^[12]

Starting 8 September 2009, several Jet Airways pilots went on a simulated strike by reporting sick and failing to turn up for duty. The stated reason for the pilots' action is that the pilots "are protesting against the dismissal of two senior pilots last month by the airline." ^[13] On 9 September 2009, the airline had to cancel over 160 domestic flights due to this reason.^[14]. The five-day strike by pilots ended on 13 September 2009. It led to a cancellation of 800 flights where more than 400 of the company's pilots called in sick. According to Indian media reports, the strike cost the airline some $8m (£4.79m) a day.^[15]

International operations

Jet Airways started international operations in March 2004 between Chennai-Colombo after it had been cleared by the Government of India to do so.

It started its Mumbai-London service on May 2005 and Delhi-London on October 2005 with new Airbus A340-300Es dry leased from South African Airways. Amritsar-London services began on August 2006 and Ahmedabad-London on April 2007 but these routes were discontinued on December 2008 and January 2008 respectively citing poor load factors.

On 2 May 2007 Jet Airways announced Brussels Airport as its European hub for its Trans-Atlantic North American operations. It began its Mumbai-Brussels-Newark service on August 2007 followed by Delhi-Brussels-Toronto on September 2007 and Chennai-Brussels-New York City on October 2007.

On May 2008 it launched its Trans-Pacific Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco service followed by Bangalore-Brussels on October 2008; these routes were discontinued on January 2009 due to poor load factors and the worldwide economic recession.

Through 2009, Jet Airways has been adding services to new destinations in the Middle East and connecting existing international destinations to additional cities in India.

Statistics

Corporate identity

Current Jet Airways livery-the "flying sun"

Jet Airways' current livery was introduced in 2007.^[16] The design retained the dark blue and gold-accented colour scheme of Jet Airways' previous corporate identity, along with the airline's "flying sun" logo.^[16] The new livery, created with Landor Associates, added yellow and gold ribbons. A new yellow uniform was simultaneously introduced, created by Italian designer Roberto Capucci.^[16] Jet Airways introduced its new identity in conjunction with a global brand re-launch which included new aircraft and seating.^[16]

Destinations

Jet Airways serves 44 domestic destinations, 21 international destinations in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. It is also introducing flights to Africa with daily flights to Johannesburg, South Africa starting 14 April 2010.

Fleet

Jet Airways' fleet consists of the following aircraft families as of January 2010:^[17]

As of December 2009, the average age of Jet Airways' fleet was 4.54 years.^[18]

Former fleet

Previously Jet Airways operated a mixed fleet of owned/leased Boeing 737-300/400/500 and Airbus A340-300E which were leased from South African Airways.

Services

Cabin classes

With the arrival of its new Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A330-200 aircraft, Jet Airways has introduced a new cabin with upgraded seats in all classes. The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft has three classes of service: First, Première (Business), and Economy. The Airbus A330-200 aircraft have two classes: Première and Economy. All Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft have this feature. Boeing 737 aircraft are configured differently. Jet Airways has a three-star rated Business and First Class, and is in the top twenty-five business classes reviewed by Skytrax. Economy class has been reviewed as a three-star product by Skytrax.

First Class

First class is available on all Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. All seats convert to a fully-flat bed, similar to Singapore Airlines first class seat but much smaller. It was the twenty-second airline in the world to have private suites All seats in First have a 21-inch widescreen LCD monitor with audio-video on-demand systems (AVOD), in seat power supply, and USB ports etc. Jet Airways is the first Indian airline to offer fully-enclosed suites on its aircraft; each suite has a closable door, making for a private compartment. Skytrax consumer airline reviewers recently rated Jet Airways First Class as being 14th best in the world.

Première

Première (Business Class) on the Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300ER international fleet has a fully-flat bed with AVOD entertainment. Seats are configured in a herringbone pattern (1-2-1 on the Boeing 777-300ER, and 1-1-1 on the Airbus A330-200), with each seat offering direct access to the aisle. Première seats on the A330-200s leased from ILFC are configured differently in a 2-2-2 non-herringbone pattern. Each Première Seat has a 15.4-inch flat screen LCD TV with AVOD. USB ports and in-seat laptop power are provided.

On the short-haul/domestic Boeing 737-700/800, all new aircraft are equipped with AVOD. All seats are standard recliner business-class seats with a few newer aircraft with electronic recline and massager.

Economy Class

Economy class on Jet's Airbus A330-200, Boeing 737-700/800 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft has 32-inch seat pitch. Seats on the Boeing 777-300ER/Airbus A330-200 have a "hammock-style" net footrest. The cabin is configured in 3-3-3 abreast on the Boeing 777-300ER, 2-4-2 on the Airbus A330-200, and 3-3 in the Boeing 737. Each Economy seat on the 777-300ER/A330-200 has a personal 10.6-inch touch screen LCD TV with AVOD.
Some recently acquired Boeing 737-700/800 aircraft also feature Personal LCD screens with AVOD.

All three classes feature Mood lighting on the Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300ER, with light schemes corresponding to the time of day and flight position.

JetScreen IFE in Economy class on-board a Boeing 737-800

In-flight entertainment

Jet Airways' Panasonic eFX IFE system on-board the Boeing 737-700/800 and Panasonic eX2 IFE system on-board the Airbus A330-200/Boeing 777-300ER, called "JetScreen", offers audio video on-demand programming (passengers can start, stop, rewind, and fast-forward as desired). It has over 100 movies, 80 TV programmes, 11 audio channels and a CD library of 125 titles. The system operates via individual touchscreen monitors at each seat, and is available in all classes.^[19]

Airport lounges

Jet Airways Lounges are offered to First and Première Class passengers, along with JetPrivilege Platinum, Gold or Silver card members. The international lounge at Brussels has showers, business centre, entertainment facilities and children's play areas.^[20] Lounges are located in:

Indian lounges

• Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai

International lounges

• Brussels, Newark

JetPrivilege

JetPrivilege is Jet Airways’ frequent flier program.

Codeshare agreements

Jet Airways has codeshare agreements with the following airlines^[21]:

Jet Airways also has marketing agreements with the following airlines:

Awards and achievements^[22]

Jet Airways has been given a 3 Star rating by Skytrax.

• Best First-Class Service in the World award at Business Traveller’s 20th annual ‘Best in Business Travel’ awards
• Full Service Airline by 2006 Galileo Express Travelworld for the sixth year in a row
• Nice Customer Service by Freddie Awards 2007
• Indian Domestic Airline with Spectacular Growth at the SATTE 2006 Awards
• Best Business Class & Best Economy Class at the Business Traveller Awards
• Best Program of the Year by Freddie Awards 2007 & 2006
• Best Elite Level for the second year in a row, at the 21st Annual presentation ceremony of the Freddie Awards 2008
• Best Bonus Promotion by Freddie Mercury Awards 2005
• Best Overall in Entertainment at the Avion Awards 2010
• India's Popular Domestic Airline at the SATTE 2006 Awards
• Best Single In-Flight Audio Program at the Avion Awards 2006
• India’s Airline at the World Travel Awards, 2006
• Best Technical Despatch Reliability by Beaver 2002
• Customer and Brand Loyalty award in the Commercial Airlines Sector (Domestic), at the second Goyal Awards
• Best Cargo Airline of North Asia by Cargo Airline of the Year Awards
• Best Domestic Airline award for the 1st consecutive year and the 5th time in the past two years at the 18th TTG (Travel Trade Gazette) Travel Awards 2007
• Service Excellence Award at Global Managers in Jurassic Park, Sudan.
• India’s Most Respected Company in the Travel and Food Sector by Businessworld 2003
• Runner up for Best Affinity Credit Card by Freddie Awards 2006
• Runner up for Best Website by Freddie Awards
• First airline in the world to introduce IFE(Sky Screen) in a Boeing 737 Next Generation.
• World's Second airline to introduce private First Class Suites in the air on their Boeing 777-300ER.

Head office

Jet Airways's head office is the S.M. Center, a rented, unmarked six storey building in Andheri, Mumbai.^[23][24] In 2008 Robyn Meredith of Forbes said that the complex was "as shabby as [Jet Airways CEO Naresh] Goyal's home is posh" and that the complex was "in need of a fresh coat of paint." Meredith also said that the complex was 15 minutes driving time from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.^[24]

Accidents and incidents

• On 1 June 2007, Jet Airways Flight 3307, a ATR 72-212A (registered VT-JCE) which was flying on the Bhopal-Indore route was involved in an accident which was caused by a storm. There were no fatalities amongst the 45 passengers and 4 crew onboard, however the aircraft suffered damages beyond repair.^{[citation needed]}

References

• [6]
• [7]

External links

	Mumbai portal
	Companies portal
	Aviation portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jet Airways

• Official website
• Indian Aviation Business news report on Bloomberg
• News timeline for Jet Airways
• Jet Airways buyout of Air Sahara on BBC news