Jet Airways’ operations are down to a handful of flights operated by a very small operational fleet. Currently, the two assets that Jet Airways wanted to phase out, are the ones making sure the airline is still operational. Jet Airways is operating a few flights of Delhi on ATR 72-500 aircraft and a single JetLite 737-800 aircraft, VT-SJI which is flying between Mumbai, Amritsar and Delhi.
Eleven Jet Airways aircraft have been de-registered: VT-JFJ/K/M/P/Q, VT-JGG/P/Q and VT-JTE/L/M. This does not include other aircraft which have already been re-delivered as a part of scheduled lease end. Nineteen more Jet Airways aircraft are waiting to be de-registered. This list includes VT-JBB/C/F/J/K, VT-JTA/B/C, VT-SJA, VT-SIZ, VT-JFD/X/W/Y/Z and VT-JLE/F.
In addition, on April 12, lessors have also applied to de-register 2 A330-300 (VT-JWS/T). Jet Airways has four of these aircraft in their fleet. A Jet Airways A330 -200, VT-JWQ was redelivered and flew to Madrid on April 11, 2019.
Jet Airways widebody fleet will now reduce to 10 777-300ER, 2 A330-300 and 3 A330-200 aircraft. We don’t know yet if lessors will apply to de-register more A330 aircraft or not.
Esta mañana también ha llegado a Barajas este Airbus A330-200 de Jet Airways en vuelo ferry procedente de Bombay para ser preservado por Iberia Mantenimiento. Veremos que futuro le espera… (VT-JWQ) pic.twitter.com/iFWSdOjklO
— Alberto González (@Titan123TJ) April 11, 2019
Out of this, Jet Airways owns 2 A330-200 and 10 777-300ER aircraft. Another A330-200 is leased to Air Serbia. There are reports suggesting that the bankers to Jet Airways will pump in INR 1,000 crores on April 15, 2019, as a temporary fund infusion. A part of this will be used to reactivate grounded aircraft and bring back the operational fleet to 26 aircraft at least.
On the international front, Jet Airways has already transferred the London Heathrow slots back to Etihad. If there is a concrete plan, the slots may be transferred back to Jet Airways. Not all widebody aircraft will be operational immediately. A couple of A330s may be operational and 6-7 777-300ER aircraft may be back immediately. Rest all aircraft will be grounded for maintenance and may take a long time to be back in the air.
VT-JWV Jet Airways A330-200
With a net reduction in the widebody fleet, international routes will definitely be affected in the long run if the restructuring of Jet Airways s successful. The 777-300ER primarily fly on 2x daily Mumbai-London, Delhi-London, Mumbai-Paris, Mumbai-Amsterdam, Delhi-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-Toronto. This will require seven 777-300ER daily. The A330s primarily fly on Amsterdam-Bengaluru and Paris-Chennai.
Also, if and when capacity comes back online, there will be a reduction on the premium capacity on board, given Jet Airways A330-200 have lesser business class seats as compared to the A330-300s. This is also a setback for Airbus since Jet Airways is their only widebody customer in India.
We will have to wait which routes are permanently axed. With a net reduction in the widebody fleet, there is no way Jet Airways will be able to fly to all international destinations: London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Toronto, Paris and Hong Kong.
What are your thoughts on reduction in the widebody fleet?
So when can we stick a fork in Jet Airways?
Things just get worse and worse. What is happening with the bids that the lenders claim they have received? Will it be too little too late for the airline?
Question is that even if they get a lifeline today, are they a viable prospect with only a wide body fleet? With no short-haul aircraft, how do they expect to feed their international network? For example, London to Bom flights have many connections to cities like BHJ, AMD,HYD, etc