After 4 Years In The Red, Jet Airways Finally Turns Around

After four years in the red, Jet Airways finally turns around. But sustaining this performance will be a bigger challenge.

- Manu Kaushik

THE TURNAROUND STORY

Jet set up about 20 teams to cut costs in several areas, including engineering, fuel and maintenance 

Codeshare agreements with 23 airlines and partnership with Etihad Airways helped it sign lucrative ground handling, fuel and catering contracts

More sweating of aircraft improved the number of passengers flown

Fall in aviation turbine fuel prices reduced costs

It also gained from the overall rise in passenger traffic in the Indian aviation market

Just five days before Jet Airways was to shift its European hub from Brussels to Amsterdam, terrorists carried out two bomb blasts at Brussels airport, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Jet’s four Airbus A330s and more than 600 passengers were also stuck. But as luck would have it, Jet was able to quickly move its passengers and aircraft to Amsterdam due to the recent arrangement with the Dutch government. The shifting of the European hub from Brussels to Amsterdam was aimed at covering more cities in Europe and North America with the help of codeshare agreements with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines, the partners of Etihad Airlines, which owns a 24 per cent stake in Jet. Codeshare is an arrangement under which two or more airlines share a flight.