The Hindu Business Line : Air Sahara seeks aircraft back from Jet

Mid-air collision
Air Sahara writes to DGCA seeking the return of its Boeing 767
To restart Delhi-London operations by August
Move may not immediately affect Jet's Amritsar-London operations, say industry analysts

New Delhi , June 22

In what could be described as the first casualty of Jet Airways' acquisition of Air Sahara falling through, the latter has written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) seeking the return of its Boeing 767 aircraft that Jet Airways has taken on wet lease.

Confirming the development, the President of Air Sahara, Mr Alok Sharma, said that the airline had written to the DGCA asking the regulatory body not to "endorse" the Boeing aircraft to Jet Airways. "We plan to restart our Delhi-London operations by August this year with this aircraft," Mr Sharma added.

Jet Airways was planning to utilise the aircraft to operate a six-times-a-week flight between Amritsar and London, which was scheduled to be launched on June 28.

Interestingly, the airline's advertisement of the new flight with promotional fares on its Web site has now been taken off. At the moment the Web site shows the airline operating only from Delhi and Mumbai to London. However, the Web site had no mention earlier of the aircraft that the airline would use to launch the new flight.

The decision to seek a return of the aircraft from Jet Airways may not immediately affect the Amritsar-London operations of the airline, industry analysts feel. Jet Airways has a fleet of four wide-body aircraft, including three Airbus A340-300E and one Airbus A330-200, and could utilise any of these to operate the Amritsar-London flight.

`Sahara on expansion mode'

Meanwhile, the Air Sahara President denied that the airline was facing a resource crunch. "We are on expansion mode and plan to acquire two new Boeing 737-800 aircraft in August-September this year and another two aircraft by the year-end or early next.

In addition, we have also committed to acquire 10 brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft next year. The airline will now focus on increasing the revenue share in the market place," said Mr Sharma.

The airline CEO and officials of Jet Airways on Thursday refused to comment on the why the buy-out deal did not materialise.

"The share purchase agreement automatically stands cancelled. Now all the action moves to the courts as far as the two parties are concerned," said an official connected with the deal.

Both the sides are said to have hired the best legal brains — Mr Harish Salve by Air Sahara and Mr Fali Nariman by Jet Airways — to represent them at the hearing on the case that begins at the Lucknow District Court on Friday.

On Wednesday, while admitting the plea of Sahara India Commercial Cooperation Ltd, the court gave time for Jet Airways and ICICI Bank to file their contentions to the deal.

Sahara had alleged that Jet Airways had terminated the contract and sought a stay in the operation of the Escrow account in ICICI Bank in Mumbai where the monies for the deal was placed.

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