Jet Airways was finally grounded for now when its last flight, a Boeing 737, touched down at the Mumbai airport early Thursday after departing from Amritsar, almost 26 years after it took off from here for Ahmedabad as an air taxi operator. The aircraft VT-SJI (flight no. S2 3502), belonging to the erstwhile Sahara Airlines, departed from Amritsar at 10.24pm on Wednesday and touched down at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here at 12.22 am on Thursday, ending the “Joy of Flying” for its millions of customers.
Sahara Airlines was acquired by Jet in 2007 to kill competition triggered by the emergence of low-cost airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, and the competition is said to have contributed in its downfall. “I generally fly Jet Airways. But when I boarded it from Amritsar on Wednesday night, we were told this is the last flight the airline is operating as it is shutting down for the time being,” said Amarjit Singh, who hails from Ludhiana.
Singh, a transporter by profession who frequently visits Mumbai for business, said he is hopeful of the airline “resuming” operations soon. Set up by Naresh Goyal on April 1, 1992, Jet Airways’s first flight took off from Mumbai for Ahmedabad on May 5, 1993, as an air-charter operator, which does not require a published schedule. However, more than a year later, it was granted the scheduled operator permit on January 14, 1995.
