Even as Jet Airways’ relaunch date continues to be delayed, reports regarding its future fleet keep surfacing every now and then. The latest report suggests that the airline’s winning bidders, the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, could place a significant aircraft order at this year’s Paris Air Show.
Jet Airways eyeing order for 200 aircraft
Jet Airways is in the process of preparing for a huge aircraft order of around 200 airframes, which it will likely place at the 2023 Paris Air Show. According to a report published by Mint, the airline will plan the order in a way that will account for the different needs of the domestic market in India and decide on the aircraft's size accordingly. The report quotes a source as saying,
“Jalan-Kalrock is in talks with aircraft OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to place an order of at least 200 planes of mix small, medium and large narrow body jets at the Paris airshow in June for their growth plan for five years.”
Vishok Mansingh, chief executive officer of Vman, an aviation leasing firm, told Mint that any potential order from Jet Airways “has to be sufficient numbers and different types of aircraft to ensures Jet Airways will have the right size equipment to support its planned network.” According to him, Jet Airways will need 250-300 aircraft to support its 8-10 years induction plan.
Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today.
Previous fleet speculation
This isn’t the first time that Jet’s potential fleet structure has received media coverage. In 2021, Bloomberg reported that the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium was in conversation with both Boeing and Airbus for an order of at least 100 narrowbodies, an order that was said to have a budget of around $12 billion.
Back then, the plan for 100+ airplanes seemed aligned with the company’s long-term expansion strategy and left many wondering whether the new planes would be American or European. Then there were reports that Jet was very close to finalizing the deal for 50 Airbus A220 aircraft.
In September 2022, it was reported that Jet had entered into a lease agreement with Dublin-based lessor Avolon to lease A320 aircraft. The plane in question was earlier meant for Russian carrier S7 Airlines, but the conflict in Ukraine meant that it was up for grabs by other potential customers. This was accompanied by images of an Airbus A320 aircraft in Jet Airways’ livery circulating on social media.
Jump in share value
While it remains to be seen if this aircraft order comes to fruition later this year, it has certainly helped raise the price of the airline’s stocks. Business Today reported that on March 6th, Jet Airways shares jumped 5% following the news of its potential airplane order.
Check out more Indian aviation news here.
The development also came after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) supported the NCLT order of January, which approved Jet’s ownership transfer to the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium.
What are your views on this? Please leave a comment below.
Source: Mint, Bloomberg, Business Today