NEW DELHI: Some of Jet Airways’ grounded planes will start flying by next week, possibly as early as Tuesday itself. Highly placed sources say SpiceJet will take anywhere between 30 and 40 of Jet’s Boeing 737s while Air India will take five of the wide body Boeing 777s. The Maharaja may take some B737s for its budget arm, AI Express.
“Almost 40 to 45 planes will be operational within the next 10 days. This will help provide gainful employment with pay to some employees of Jet as the aircraft will be wet-leased (meaning hired with crew to operate them). The additional flights will mean the runaway fares will hopefully stabilise, at least on domestic routes to begin with.
Once AI starts using the B777s on international routes like London, Dubai and Singapore, fares to those places should also return to sane levels,” said a source. Depending on whether Jet’s ongoing bidding process is successful, the aircraft may return to Jet.
