JetLite, formerly Air Sahara, is an airline based in New Delhi, India. Controlled by Jet Airways, the airline operates scheduled services connecting metropolitan centres in India. The airline also provides helicopters which are available for charter services and aerial photography. Its main base is Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, with hubs at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. The focus cities are Chennai International Airport, Chennai, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport,Ahmedabad and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata.

The airline was established on 20 September 1991 and began operations on 3 December 1993 with two Boeing 737-200 aircraft as Sahara Airlines. Initially, services were primarily concentrated in the northern sectors of India, keeping Delhi as its base, and then operations were extended to cover all the country. Sahara Airlines was re-branded as Air Sahara on 2 October 2000, although Sahara Airlines remains the carrier’s registered name. On 22 March 2004 it became an international carrier with the start of flights from Chennai to Colombo. It is part of the major Sahara India Pariwar business conglomerate. The uncertainty over the airline’s fate caused its share of the domestic Indian air transport market go down from approximately 11% in January 2006 to a reported 8.5% in April.

Jet Airways announced its first takeover attempt on January 19, 2006, offering US$500 million (2000 crore) in cash for the airline. Market reaction to the deal was mixed, with many analysts suggesting that Jet Airways was paying too much for Air Sahara. The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry gave approval in principle, but the deal was eventually called off over disagreements over price and the appointment of Jet chairman Naresh Goyal to the Air Sahara board. Following the failure of the deal, the companies filed lawsuits seeking damages from each other.
A second, eventually successful attempt was made on April 12, 2007 with Jet Airways agreeing to pay 1,450 crore rupees ($340 million). The deal gave Jet a combined domestic market share of about 32%.
On April 16th Jet Airways announced that Air Sahara will be renamed as JetLite. The takeover was officially completed on April 20th, when Jet Airways paid Rs. 400 crore.

Fleet: Jet Lite (as of Decmber, 2008) operates a fleet of 24 aircraft, which includes 17 Boeing 737 series(B737-300, B737-400, B737-700, B737-800, B737-800W) and 7 Canadian Regional Jets 200 Series(CRJ-200). Jet Lite operates 141 flights every day to 30 domestic destinations and 2 international destinations (Kathmandu and Colombo).

JetLite, (as of December, 2008) connects 26 domestic and 2 international destinations with over 108 flights a day:
Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Colombo, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Goa, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Jorhat, Kathmandu, Kochi, Kolkatta, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Raipur, Srinagar, Vishakhapatnam.

Corporate Office:

Jet Airways India Pvt. Ltd.
Jet Airways House,
13 Community Centre,
Yusufsarai,
New Delhi – 110 041
India.

Tel: +91-11-46095000

http://www.jetlite.com