The ministry of civil aviation has granted security clearance to grounded carrier Jet Airways, taking it one step closer to its planned resumption of operations.
The approval was given basis a nod from the ministry of home affairs.
In a letter, an official conveyed “security clearance for change in shareholding pattern” in the airline. The new owners of Jet, a consortium of Kalrock Capital and middle east-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan had applied for the security clearance on December 13 last year.
Jet now has to get the air operator’s certificate from India’s aviation regulator, to take to the skies.
Last week, Jet 2.0 conducted its first test flight in Hyderabad.
Last month, the airline appointed industry veteran Sanjiv Kapoor, former chief strategy and commercial officer at Vistara, as its CEO.
Jet already has more than 150 employees on its rolls and the airline is also speaking to vendors, including lessors, for the relaunch. Jet stopped operating in April 2019, burdened under piling losses, debt and dues. It was admitted for insolvency proceedings by the National Company Law Tribunal in June 2019. After two years of a rambling insolvency process, the bankruptcy court approved the Jalan-Kalrock consortium’s resolution plan in June last year.
Jet Airways’ flying licence or AOP was made dormant, months after it stopped flying.
