MAX8: Will it bring joy to Jet?

Once India’s only carrier with all the bells and whistles, today’s Jet Airways is anything but that. It looks old and tired even as it celebrates its 25th anniversary and nowhere is it more apparent than the domestic skies where it has lost its dominant position. Internationally too, Jet is an also ran. With the new B737 MAX8, the carrier has the opportunity to get back the leadership position it once held.

- Ameya Joshi

Jet Airways – the country’s oldest private carrier and “premier full service international airline” as it describes itself – took delivery of its first Boeing B737 MAX8 in June. The delivery marked a major milestone for the airline in its fleet renewal plans and can be considered a stepping stone on its way towards profitable future quarters.

The delivery coincided with two notable events. This came in the backdrop of the carrier’s celebration of completion of 25 years of operations in May 2018 and at the same time declaring a huge loss for the last quarter of financial year 2018 which wiped off the gains of the previous three quarters leading to the airline closing the year in red. The results came nine months after former Delta executive Vinay Dubey joined as the Chief Executive Officer of the airline.

The airline which operates 737NGs, ATR72s, A330s and B777s has not had a factory fresh aircraft in its fleet for a long time. The B737NG which forms the mainstay of the fleet has an average age in excess of eight years while some of the oldest aircraft in its fleet have crossed 16 years of operations. The long ordered B787s of the airline are yet to see the light of the day: the airline had ordered for the B737 MAX8 in 2013 and had confirmed the order in 2015. Just ahead of its 25th anniversary celebrations in May, it placed an order for a second batch of B737 MAX8 in April 2018. Each order comprises 75 aircraft on firm order.

The Boeing B737 is the workhorse of the airline and the initial batch of 75 aircraft are expected to replace the existing fleet of B737NGs starting with some of the oldest aircraft in the fleet with selective increase in capacity and the focus of the next 75 will be incremental increase in capacity for the airline.