JetLite was a low-cost subsidiary of

Jet Airways Jet Airways (India) Ltd is an Indian airline based in Delhi NCR, with a training and developmental center in Mumbai. Incorporated in April 1992 as a limited liability company, the airline began operations as an air taxi operator in 1993. It b ...

. It was formerly known as ''Air Sahara'' until the buyout by Jet Airways which rebranded the airline as JetLite. On April 17, 2019, JetLite grounded all of its flights and ceased all operations, in tandem with its parent company,

History

The airline was established on 20 September 1991 and began operations on 3 December 1993 with two

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

aircraft as Sahara India Airlines, as part of the major

Sahara India Pariwar Sahara India Pariwar (''pariwar'' being Hindi for "family") is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The group operates business sectors such as finance, infrastructure & housing, real estate, sports, power, man ...

business conglomerate. Initially, services were primarily concentrated in the northern sectors of India, keeping Delhi as its base, and then operations were extended to cover all the country. Sahara India Airlines was rebranded as Air Sahara on 2 October 2000, although Sahara India Airlines remains the carrier's registered name. On 22 March 2004 it became an international carrier with the start of flights from

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

, later expanding to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Singapore, MaldivesAir Sahara adds Male to network
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Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

. It had also planned to become the first private Indian carrier to serve China with flights to

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

from winter 2006, however, this did not materialize. The uncertainty over the airline's fate caused its share of the domestic Indian air transport market to go down from approximately 11% in January 2006 to a reported 8.5% in April 2007.

Buyout by Jet Airways

announced its first takeover attempt on 19 January 2006, offering US$500 million (₹20 billion) in cash for the airline. Market reaction to the deal was mixed, with many analysts suggesting that Jet Airways was paying too much for Air Sahara. The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry gave approval in principle, but the deal was eventually called off over disagreements over price and the appointment of Jet chairman Naresh Goyal to the Air Sahara board. Following the failure of the deal, the companies filed lawsuits seeking damages from each other A second, eventually successful attempt was made on 12 April 2007 with Jet Airways agreeing to pay ₹14.50 billion ($340 million). The deal gave Jet a combined domestic market share of about 32%. On 16 April Jet Airways announced that Air Sahara will be renamed as Jetlite.Jet renames Air Sahara 'Jetlite'
'' Rediff.com'', 16 April 2007 The takeover was officially completed on 20 April, when Jet Airways paid ₹4 billion.

Rebranding to JetKonnect

Jetlite was merged with Jet Airways' in-house low-cost brand JetKonnect on 25 March 2012 as a move towards operating under one brand. On 1 December 2014 JetKonnect was integrated into Jet Airways ending its own operations and now flew for them under the codeshare, using its own Air Operators Certificate and flight code S2 till the merger of the two companies is completed after approval. The aircraft fleet was also progressively being repainted in Jet Airways livery.

End of Operations

On April 17, 2019, JetLite grounded all of its flights and ceased all operations, in tandem with its parent company,

, which also grounded all of its flights and ceased all operations on the same day.

Services

JetLite had an extensive domestic network as well as international services to Nepal and Sri Lanka that were dropped after the merger into JetKonnect, focusing only on domestic routes. A buy onboard menu called JetCafé, with food for purchase in Economy, while free meals were offered in Business class.

Corporate Affairs

Business Trends

The key trends for Jet Lite (India) Limited ('Jet Lite') over recent years are shown below (as at year ending 31 March):

Fleet

JetLite Boeing 737-800 VT-SJH at Kathmandu airport in 2010

As of April 2019 JetLite operated the following aircraft (until the merger with Jetkonnect):

In-flight services

JetLite had a buy on board service called JetCafé, offering food for purchase in Economy, while free meals were offered in Business class.

References

External links

Air SaharaOfficial Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jetlite Jet Airways Sahara India Pariwar Defunct airlines of India Airlines established in 1991 Airlines disestablished in 2019 Companies based in Mumbai Indian companies disestablished in 2019 Indian companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in Maharashtra