In a move to ally fears of potential bidders for Jet Airways, India’s aviation ministry has stressed that the airline’s slot rights will be retained despite temporarily allocating some of these to Spicejet.
Debt-ridden Jet Airways was forced to suspend flights on 17 April amid its mounting liquidity crisis, but a process is now under way to find a secure fresh investment source.
After the grounding of the airline, several new services were announced by rival carriers to help fill the void. This includes an extra 24 daily domestic flights between Mumbai and Delhi by Spicejet, the first of which started on 26 April.
A press statement issued by India’s ministry of civil aviation stated: “To reduce the inconvenience of passengers and to facilitate induction of additional capacity, it has been decided to allot some of the slots vacated by Jet Airways to other airlines on a purely temporary basis, for a period of three months.”
But the ministry stressed: “The historic rights of Jet Airways will be protected. These slots will be made available, as and when they revive their operations.”
