Exclusive: Jet Airways to take-off in first quarter of 2022; 140-150 former staff re-hired, hunt for CEO on

Jet Airways aims to resume flights in Q1 of 2022, sources told CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday.

So far, bulk of the hiring has taken place for the engineering and maintenance departments and the airline has also hired senior officials and mid-management executives, sources said. Overall, the airline plans to hire at least 1,000 employees in the first phase of its revival, sources added.

However, the hunt for CEO is still on and the airlines has shortlisted candidates from across India and overseas, sources added.

The airline’s resolution plan, proposed by Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, received nod from the National Company Law Tribunal on June 22 and the airline was asked to engage with the government authorities for the slots at domestic airports.

The airline is also believed to have short-listed candidates from India and overseas for CEO position and an announcement in that regard is likely over the next month.

On the procedural front, Jet airways has applied to DGCA for re-certification of its air operator permit and discussions with airports for slots are ongoing, people aware of the matter said, adding that the airline aims to have a pan-India route network but initially with less frequency and regional hubs at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

While the airline owns wide-body aircraft, it plans to sell those old wide-body aircraft and get new ones on lease. In the first phase of revival, the airline’s fleet is expected to have narrow-body aircraft and the airline aims to build this to 20 aircraft fleet within 4-6 months of resumption. For narrow-body, the airline is actively considering the newly recertified Boeing MAX along with Airbus neo, sources added.

Recently, Jet Airways employees associations had approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal with their concerns about pending salaries and retirement benefits under the resolution plan. The counsel of the Kalrock-Jalan consortium was given two weeks’ time to respond to claims by Jet Airways employee associations.

“The airline was mandated by the court to employ at least 50 former Jet Airways staff, this number is already over 140-150 and rising. The airline is open to hiring former staff on merit,” a person privy to the matter said.