IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara retain Jet’s slots till December 31

After Jet Airways suspended operations in April, the airlines were allocated the vacant slots first up to June 30. This was later extended up to September.

IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara, which are using the domestic and international operation slots left vacant after Jet Airways suspended its operations, have been allowed by the civil aviation ministry to retain the places for another three months from September 30 to December 31.

A slot is a date and time at which an airline’s aircraft is permitted to depart or arrive at an airport. A senior official from the civil aviation department confirmed the extension of the deadline. (HT image)

This is the second time the government has extended the deadline. After Jet Airways suspended operations in April, the airlines were allocated the vacant slots first up to June 30. This was later extended up to September. The current three-month extension means that if Jet Airways manages to resume services it can claim its operation slots after December 2019.

A slot is a date and time at which an airline’s aircraft is permitted to depart or arrive at an airport. A senior official from the civil aviation department confirmed the extension of the deadline. “An order has been issued to all the airlines informing about this extension of slots,” said the official.

The slots were allotted to IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara on interim basis by a ministry-recommended committee that consisted of senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) and DGCA officials, along with officials from respective airports.

Around 280 slots in Mumbai and 160 in Delhi were left vacant after Jet Airways temporarily shut its flight operations on April 17. Grounding of Jet Airways aircraft had resulted in a supply gap in the domestic sector, which led to an increase in airfares in many sectors.

Due to this, the civil aviation ministry had also asked airlines to keep fares at affordable levels while they were given the slots left vacant by Jet Airways. In order to utilise these slots to their maximum capacity, SpiceJet and Vistara inducted unused Jet Airways aircraft on lease.