Jet Airways, grounded for 3 years, to start flying again

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday granted air operator certificate (AOC) to Jet Airways. With this, the airline can now resume commercial flight operations.

The airline was granted the AOC after completing the proving flights. Proving flights is the last step for the airline to obtain the AOC. A total of five landings (five flights) have to be done by the aircraft to successfully complete its proving flights.

Jet Airways conducted the second -- and the last -- set of two proving flights on Tuesday with 31 people, including officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on board, sources told news agency PTI. The carrier had on Sunday conducted the first set of three proving flights with 18 people, including the DGCA officials on board, they added.

In a statement on Tuesday, the spokesperson of Jalan-Kalrock Consortium stated, "We have successfully conducted our proving flights over two days, and we now look forward to the grant of the AOC by the DGCA." The two proving flights on Tuesday were conducted on Delhi-Hyderabad and Hyderabad-Delhi routes using the carrier's Boeing 737 plane, sources told PTI.

The three proving flights that were conducted on Sunday were on Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad-Delhi routes using the same plane, they noted.

Jet Airways had on May 5 conducted its test flight to and from Hyderabad in a step towards obtaining the AOC.

The airline in its old avatar was owned by Naresh Goyal and had operated its last flight on April 17, 2019. The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium is currently the promoter of Jet Airways.

The airline plans to restart commercial flight operations in July-September quarter this year.

(With PTI inputs)

Published on: Friday, May 20, 2022, 06:26 PM IST