DGCA grants license to Jet Airways, to start commercial flights in India soon

After a gap of three years Jet Airways has been granted the Air Operator Certificate after the successful completion of its test flights.

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The DGCA has granted Jet Airways the Air Operator Certificate (AOC), allowing the airline to resume commercial flight operations. Arun Kumar, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) chief, told PTI that Jet Airways has been "granted" a "AOC." The airline was previously owned by Naresh Goyal and operated its final flight on April 17, 2019. It is to be noted that Jet Airways is currently promoted by the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium.

The airline intends to restart commercial flight operations in the July-September quarter. With DGCA officials onboard, the airline had successfully operated five proving flights on May 15 and 17. 

​Jet Airways on Sunday conducted the first set of three proving flights with 18 people, including officials of the aviation regulator DGCA, on board the aircraft, sources said. Proving flights is the last step for the airline to obtain the air operator certificate (AOC). The first of the three proving flights were conducted on the Delhi-Mumbai route, sources said.

The second flight was scheduled to return to Delhi, but after it departed from Mumbai, officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked the pilots to divert it to Ahmedabad, they said.

The DGCA diverted aircraft during proving flights to test the readiness of a new airline in handling such situations, they said. The second flight safely landed in Ahmedabad, and sometime after that, the third flight was conducted on the Ahmedabad-Delhi route, they mentioned.

The aircraft used for these three proving flights was a Boeing 737 plane with registration number VT-SXE of Jet Airways, they said. There were 18 people -- four cabin crew members, two pilots, and 12 others, including DGCA officials and senior executives of Jet Airways -- on board the plane during these three proving flights, sources said.

A total of five landings (five flights) have to be done by the aircraft to successfully complete its proving flights, they said. Three landings were conducted on Sunday, and therefore, the remaining two will be conducted on Tuesday, they said.

With inputs from PTI