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EspañolJET LITE
(Redirected from Air Sahara)
'Jet Lite', until recently known as 'Air Sahara' (Hindi:एअर सहारा), is an airline based in New Delhi, India. It is a privately owned airline operating scheduled services connecting metropolitan centres in India. The airline also provides helicopters which are available for charter services and aerial photography. Its main base is Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, with hubs at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, Chennai International Airport, Chennai and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata[1].
The airline was established on 20 September 1991 and began operations on 3 December 1993 with two Boeing 737-200 aircraft as Sahara Airlines. 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 Airlines was rebranded as Air Sahara on 2 October 2000, although Sahara Airlines remains the carrier's registered name. On 22 March 2004 it became an international carrier with the start of flights from Chennai to Colombo. It is part of the major Sahara India Pariwar business conglomerate. The uncertainty over the airline's fate has caused its share of the domestic Indian air transport market go down from approximately 11% in January 2006 to a reported 8.5% in April.
[2]
On January 19 2006 Jet Airways announced that it was to buy Air Sahara for $500 million in an all-cash deal. Everything, including Sahara's assets and infrastructure would belong to Jet Airways. This deal would have been the biggest in India's aviation history and the resulting airline the country's largest, had it gone through. Jet Airways management had planned to rename Air Sahara to "Trans Jet", with a separate corporate logo and livery.
The Indian Government had initially expressed its doubts on whether such a deal was legal, since no such deal had previously taken place in Indian Civil Aviation. However the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry ultimately gave approval in principle for the deal.
Market reaction to the deal was mixed, with many analysts suggesting that Jet Airways was paying too much for Air Sahara. The deadline for the deal to be completed was June 21, 2006, but in the days before this, the chances of the takeover being completed began to look shakier. Jet Airways claimed that a final sticking point was the government's delay in giving Jet chairman Naresh Goyal approval to be appointed to the Air Sahara board. Air Sahara countered that Jet Airways had engineered this impasse by delaying the request for such approval, as a way of extricating themselves from a deal they now regretted. Jet was said to be willing to go ahead with the deal only if the originally agreed price was lowered by 20-25% on the basis of Sahara's mounting debts, an option which was firmly rejected by Air Sahara. Finally both sides confirmed that the deal was off.
Following the failure of the deal, the companies have now filed lawsuits seeking damages from each other[3]
The Bombay High Court on Friday 22 September allowed Jet Airways to withdraw Rs 1,500 crore deposited by it for acquiring rival Air Sahara. "Jet will have the right to withdraw Rs 1,500 crore against bank guarantee of the same amount," Justice D K Deshmukh said in his order. The amount in the escrow account will go to Jet and the interest will go to Air Sahara. However, the escrow account formalities will be decided by an arbitration tribunal. Arbitration is to begin on 9 October 2006.
On April, 12th 2007 Jet Airways agreed to buy out its smaller rival Air Sahara for 14.5 billion rupees ($340m). The deal will give the airline a combined domestic market share of about 32%. Jet's attempt to buy Air Sahara last year collapsed but the company has said the new deal has been reached amicably. Both airlines also fly to international destinations and their operations and re-structuring will be merged. Jet Airways, founded by London-based former travel agent Naresh Goyal, controls about 24.5% of the Indian domestic aviation market. Air Sahara, owned by reclusive businessman Subroto Roy, controls about 7%.[4]
On April 16th Jet Airways announced that Air Sahara will be renamed as Jetlite.
[5]
On April 20th Jet Airways paid Rs. 400 cr to officially take over Air Sahara.
9 people were killed when a Sahara India Airlines Boeing 737 crashed at the International Terminal Apron at Delhi's IGI Airport during a training flight on 8th March, 1994. [6]
Air Sahara operates the following services (as of January 2007):
★ Domestic scheduled destinations: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Cochin, Coimbatore, Pune, Goa, Lucknow, Patna, Indore, Bhopal, Srinagar, Guwahati,Dibrugarh, Port Blair, Jammu, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar.
★ International scheduled destinations: Colombo, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Maldives, Singapore.
★ Helicopter charter services are operated between Delhi and Mumbai.
★ Flights to Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Seoul are planned.
★ Air Sahara also code shares a Delhi-Chicago international route through Ft. Worth, Texas based American Airlines, a prime code share partner (as mentioned below).
Air Sahara currently codeshares with American Airlines
The Air Sahara fleet includes the following aircraft (at August 2007) [7] :
★ 2 Boeing 737-300
★ 4 Boeing 737-400
★ 6 Boeing 737-700
★ 7 Boeing 737-800 (further 10 on order) (deliveries are scheduled to begin in mid 2009 and the last to 2010)
★ 2 Boeing 767-300
★ 2 Boeing 767-300ER
★ 3 Bombardier CRJ-200ER (9 on order)
★ 4 Bombardier CRJ-200LR (11 on order)
Air Sahara average fleet age is 6.5 years old in June 2006[8].
The airline also operates Helicopters on non-scheduled routes.
★ 3 Ecureuil Helicopter
★ 1 Dauphin Helicopter
Following approval to begin long-haul services to London, Air Sahara had considered acquiring three Airbus A310 aircraft from Singapore Airlines.[9]
Air Sahara recently sold 2 Boeing 737-700 aircraft to Southwest Airlines
★ Jet Airways
★ Air Sahara
★ Jet Airways Purchases Air Sahara
★ Air Sahara Boeing Fleet Detail
★ Air Sahara now enters US market
1. Directory: World Airlines
2. Sify.com
3. BBC News
4. ''[in.ibtimes.com]''
5. Jet renames Air Sahara 'Jetlite' ''Rediff.com'', April 16 2007
6. http://dgca.gov.in/accident/acc94.pdf
7. Air Sahara Website - Fleet
8. Air Sahara Fleet Age
9. Airliner World April 2005 issue
10. [Naresh Goyal files a suit of 500 cr]
[10]
'Jet Lite', until recently known as 'Air Sahara' (Hindi:एअर सहारा), is an airline based in New Delhi, India. It is a privately owned airline operating scheduled services connecting metropolitan centres in India. The airline also provides helicopters which are available for charter services and aerial photography. Its main base is Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, with hubs at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, Chennai International Airport, Chennai and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata[1].
| Contents |
| History |
| Proposed Jet Airways takeover and aftermath |
| Buyout by Jet Airways |
| Incidents and Accidents |
| Destinations |
| Codeshare partners |
| Fleet |
| See also |
| External links |
| References |
History
Air Sahara logo
The airline was established on 20 September 1991 and began operations on 3 December 1993 with two Boeing 737-200 aircraft as Sahara Airlines. 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 Airlines was rebranded as Air Sahara on 2 October 2000, although Sahara Airlines remains the carrier's registered name. On 22 March 2004 it became an international carrier with the start of flights from Chennai to Colombo. It is part of the major Sahara India Pariwar business conglomerate. The uncertainty over the airline's fate has caused its share of the domestic Indian air transport market go down from approximately 11% in January 2006 to a reported 8.5% in April.
Proposed Jet Airways takeover and aftermath
[2]
On January 19 2006 Jet Airways announced that it was to buy Air Sahara for $500 million in an all-cash deal. Everything, including Sahara's assets and infrastructure would belong to Jet Airways. This deal would have been the biggest in India's aviation history and the resulting airline the country's largest, had it gone through. Jet Airways management had planned to rename Air Sahara to "Trans Jet", with a separate corporate logo and livery.
The Indian Government had initially expressed its doubts on whether such a deal was legal, since no such deal had previously taken place in Indian Civil Aviation. However the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry ultimately gave approval in principle for the deal.
Market reaction to the deal was mixed, with many analysts suggesting that Jet Airways was paying too much for Air Sahara. The deadline for the deal to be completed was June 21, 2006, but in the days before this, the chances of the takeover being completed began to look shakier. Jet Airways claimed that a final sticking point was the government's delay in giving Jet chairman Naresh Goyal approval to be appointed to the Air Sahara board. Air Sahara countered that Jet Airways had engineered this impasse by delaying the request for such approval, as a way of extricating themselves from a deal they now regretted. Jet was said to be willing to go ahead with the deal only if the originally agreed price was lowered by 20-25% on the basis of Sahara's mounting debts, an option which was firmly rejected by Air Sahara. Finally both sides confirmed that the deal was off.
Following the failure of the deal, the companies have now filed lawsuits seeking damages from each other[3]
The Bombay High Court on Friday 22 September allowed Jet Airways to withdraw Rs 1,500 crore deposited by it for acquiring rival Air Sahara. "Jet will have the right to withdraw Rs 1,500 crore against bank guarantee of the same amount," Justice D K Deshmukh said in his order. The amount in the escrow account will go to Jet and the interest will go to Air Sahara. However, the escrow account formalities will be decided by an arbitration tribunal. Arbitration is to begin on 9 October 2006.
Buyout by Jet Airways
On April, 12th 2007 Jet Airways agreed to buy out its smaller rival Air Sahara for 14.5 billion rupees ($340m). The deal will give the airline a combined domestic market share of about 32%. Jet's attempt to buy Air Sahara last year collapsed but the company has said the new deal has been reached amicably. Both airlines also fly to international destinations and their operations and re-structuring will be merged. Jet Airways, founded by London-based former travel agent Naresh Goyal, controls about 24.5% of the Indian domestic aviation market. Air Sahara, owned by reclusive businessman Subroto Roy, controls about 7%.[4]
On April 16th Jet Airways announced that Air Sahara will be renamed as Jetlite.
[5]
On April 20th Jet Airways paid Rs. 400 cr to officially take over Air Sahara.
Incidents and Accidents
9 people were killed when a Sahara India Airlines Boeing 737 crashed at the International Terminal Apron at Delhi's IGI Airport during a training flight on 8th March, 1994. [6]
Destinations
Air Sahara operates the following services (as of January 2007):
★ Domestic scheduled destinations: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Cochin, Coimbatore, Pune, Goa, Lucknow, Patna, Indore, Bhopal, Srinagar, Guwahati,Dibrugarh, Port Blair, Jammu, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar.
★ International scheduled destinations: Colombo, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Maldives, Singapore.
★ Helicopter charter services are operated between Delhi and Mumbai.
★ Flights to Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Seoul are planned.
★ Air Sahara also code shares a Delhi-Chicago international route through Ft. Worth, Texas based American Airlines, a prime code share partner (as mentioned below).
Codeshare partners
Air Sahara currently codeshares with American Airlines
Fleet
The Air Sahara fleet includes the following aircraft (at August 2007) [7] :
★ 2 Boeing 737-300
★ 4 Boeing 737-400
★ 6 Boeing 737-700
★ 7 Boeing 737-800 (further 10 on order) (deliveries are scheduled to begin in mid 2009 and the last to 2010)
★ 2 Boeing 767-300
★ 2 Boeing 767-300ER
★ 3 Bombardier CRJ-200ER (9 on order)
★ 4 Bombardier CRJ-200LR (11 on order)
Air Sahara average fleet age is 6.5 years old in June 2006[8].
The airline also operates Helicopters on non-scheduled routes.
★ 3 Ecureuil Helicopter
★ 1 Dauphin Helicopter
Following approval to begin long-haul services to London, Air Sahara had considered acquiring three Airbus A310 aircraft from Singapore Airlines.[9]
Air Sahara recently sold 2 Boeing 737-700 aircraft to Southwest Airlines
See also
★ Jet Airways
External links
★ Air Sahara
★ Jet Airways Purchases Air Sahara
★ Air Sahara Boeing Fleet Detail
★ Air Sahara now enters US market
References
1. Directory: World Airlines
2. Sify.com
3. BBC News
4. ''[in.ibtimes.com]''
5. Jet renames Air Sahara 'Jetlite' ''Rediff.com'', April 16 2007
6. http://dgca.gov.in/accident/acc94.pdf
7. Air Sahara Website - Fleet
8. Air Sahara Fleet Age
9. Airliner World April 2005 issue
10. [Naresh Goyal files a suit of 500 cr]
[10]
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