Jet Airways operates first set proof flight with 18 people

On Sunday, Jet Airways operated the first set of three proven flights with 18 people on board, including officials from the aviation regulator DGCA, sources said. The second set of two proven flights will be operated by Jet Airways on Tuesday, they said.

Proof of flight is the final step in obtaining Air Operator Certificate (AOC) for the airline. The first of the three proven flights was operated on the Delhi-Mumbai route, sources said.

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

The DGCA removed the aircraft while proving the flight to test the readiness of a new airline to deal with such a situation, they said.

The second flight landed safely in Ahmedabad and shortly after, the third flight was operated on the Ahmedabad-Delhi route, they noted.

The aircraft used for these three certified flights was a Boeing 737 with Jet Airways’ VT-SXE registration number, they said.

The plane had 18 people on board during the three proven flights – four cabin crew members, two pilots and 12 others, including a DGCA official and a senior Jet Airways executive, the source said.

They said the aircraft would have to make a total of five landings (five flights) to successfully complete its proven flights. Three landings were conducted on Sunday, and therefore, the remaining two will be conducted on Tuesday, they said.

Jet Airways did not respond to a request from PTI for a statement on its certified flight. Jet Airways conducted its test flight from Hyderabad on May 5 in one step of getting AOC.

The airline in the old incarnation was owned by Naresh Goyal and it operated its last flight on April 17, 2019. The Jalan-Kalrak Consortium is currently the promoter of Jet Airways.

The airline plans to resume commercial flight operations in the July-September quarter of this year.