Jet Airways (Mumbai International) has reportedly shelved plans to transfer its fleet of eighteen ATR72-500s and -600s to its Jet Konnect (Mumbai International) subsidiary citing costs and regulatory red-tape. As part of a restructuring program aimed at returning the carrier to profitability, Jet planned to enhance its subsidiary's domestic market share by transferring the turboprops to the latter's Air Operators Certificate.
"Jet Airways had plans to transfer its entire fleet of ATR - Avions de Transport Régional aircraft to its subsidiary airline JetKonnect. This was part of the airline's overall profitability plan. However, after toying with the idea for quite some time, it has dropped the plan due to technical reasons and cost issues," an airline source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
"In this case, all the 18 aircraft would have to be deregistered first and sent out to the lessor and then registered again. Besides, the process also involves huge costs. Therefore, the airline has at this stage decided to not to go ahead with the plan," the source added.
The turboprops are used on Tier-II routes as well as on flights between Bengaluru International, Hyderabad International, and Chennai in the south of the country.
As part of its Etihad Airways-sanctioned turnaround plan, Jet Konnect recently abandoned its budget business model in favour of becoming a full service carrier in line with that of parent Jet Airways.
