JetKonnect

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JetKonnect
IATA
S2		 ICAO
JLL		 Callsign
LITE JET
Founded 1991 (as Sahara Airlines)
Hubs
Secondary hubs
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer program Jet Privilege
Fleet size 19 (+ 6 orders)[1]
Destinations 30
Company slogan Emotionally Yours
Parent company Tailwinds Limited
Headquarters Mumbai, India
Key people Subrata Roy (Founder)
Naresh Goyal (Owner)
Website http://www.jetkonnect.com

JetKonnect formerly Jet Airways Konnect, a marketing name for Jet Lite (India) Limited, is an airline based in Mumbai, India.[2] owned by Jet Airways, the airline operates scheduled services connecting metropolitan centres in India. Originally operated under its own name Jetlite, it began to trade as JetKonnect in 2012.

History

Former Air Sahara Logo

The airlines 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,[3] Singapore, Maldives[4] and Kathmandu, they had also planned to become the first private Indian carrier to serve China with flights to Guangzhou[5] 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

Former Jetlite Logo

Jet Airways announced its first takeover attempt on 19 January 2006, offering US$500 million (₹2000 crore) in cash for the airline.[6] 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[7]

A second, eventually successful attempt was made on 12 April 2007 with Jet Airways agreeing to pay ₹1,450 crore ($340 million). The deal gave Jet a combined domestic market share of about 32%[citation needed].

On 16 April Jet Airways announced that Air Sahara will be renamed as Jetlite.[2] The takeover was officially completed on 20 April, when Jet Airways paid ₹400 crore.

Rebranding to JetKonnect

Jetlite was merged into Jet Airways' inhouse low cost brand JetKonnect on 25 March 2012, allowing JetKonnect to emerge as a separate airline, the carrier retained Jetlite livery with JetKonnect title.[8]

Destinations

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

As of October 2013, JetKonnect serves the following cities:[9]

India

JetKonnect do not fly international services, as Jetlite's routes Colombo and Kathmandu were dropped in favour of being served through Jet Airways.

Fleet

JetKonnect fleet consists of the following aircraft as of October 2013, some are operated in a hybrid Jet Airways livery with JetKonnect titles:[10]

JetKonnect Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
ATR 72-500 2 — 68
ATR 72-600 3 — 68
Boeing 737-700 5 — 144
149
Boeing 737-800 6 — 186
Boeing 737-900ER 2 — 202
Total 18

In-flight services

JetKonnect has a buy on board service called JetCafé,[11] offering food for purchase. Full service is also provided, but only on flights using 9W code and 2000-2999 flight numbers.

Incidents and accidents

On 8 March 1994, a Sahara Airlines Boeing 737-2R4C (registered VT-SIA) was engaged in a training flight with an instructor and 3 trainee pilots. Five circuits and landings were completed uneventfully and during the sixth touch-and-go exercise, after the take off from runway 28 of Indira Gandhi International Airport, the aircraft made a left turn and crashed at the International Terminal Apron. The wreckage of aircraft hit an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft parked on Bay No. 45 as a result of which it also caught fire. Two Aeroflot employees, a Russian ground engineer and a local airport worker were killed on the ground. The accident occurred due to application of wrong rudder by trainee pilot during engine failure exercise. Capt. did not guard/block the rudder control and give clear commands as Instructor so as to obviate the application of wrong rudder control by the trainee pilot.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ref JetLite Fleet Update page
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jet renames Air Sahara 'Jetlite' Rediff.com, 16 April 2007
  3. ↑ Air Sahara to launch London
  4. ↑ Air Sahara adds Male to network
  5. ↑ [ http://indiaaviation.aero/news/airline/2231/59/Air-Sahara-announces-network-expansion Air Sahara announces network expansion]
  6. ↑ Sify.com
  7. ↑ "BBC News". BBC News. 2006-01-19. Retrieved 2010-09-08. 
  8. ↑ "Jet Airways discontinues JetLite, merges with Konnect - The Times of India". The Times Of India. 
  9. ↑ "Network". JetLite. 2008-11-17. Retrieved 2010-09-08. 
  10. ↑ JetKonnect Fleet
  11. ↑ JetCafe
  12. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-2R4C VT-SIA Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2010-07-16. 

External links

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