INDIA, 20 MAY | At the stroke of midnight earlier today, Jet Airways' Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) expired, resulting in another dead end for the airline struggling to restart. India's DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) has confirmed this saddening news, and as a result, it will be quite a long time before we see " The Joy of Flying " return to the skies.

An AOC is a document granted by the regulatory authority to an airline or operator in the aviation industry. It signifies that the operator has met safety and operational requirements to conduct commercial air transportation. Without an AOC, Jet Airways will not be allowed to offer commercial flights. As the process to obtain an AOC is quite lengthy, it would be quite a while for the airline to get back running.

Jet Airways was a major Indian airline that operated both domestic and international flights. Due to financial difficulties and mounting debt, the airline suspended operations in April 2019 and eventually ceased all flights. The challenges it faced included high costs, competition, and mismanagement, leading to its inability to continue operations.

In 2021, plans to restart the airline materialised- with the airline securing a small fleet of 9 aircraft- including Boeing 777s, 737s and interestingly, an Airbus A320-200. The airline continued to do test flights in order to obtain their Air Operator's Permit (AOP). However, recently, CEO-designate, Sanjiv Kapoor left the airline. This coupled with the AOC expiry has left many skeptical about the airline's future.

Despite all this, the Jet Airways team states they remain comitted to pulling the airline out of the ashes. What do you think? Will we see a restart of India's favourite airline again? Comment below.

Images: BBC, Business Traveller

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