India's Jet Airways is to run newly acquired Air Sahara as a separate operation and rebrand it as "Jetlite".
The carrier recently agreed to acquire rival Air Sahara from the Sahara Group for Rp14.5 billion ($339 million). Jet chairman and majority owner Naresh Goyal says that the new subsidiary will be positioned between established full-service operator Jet and new domestic no-frills carriers that have been eating into its market share.
Jet, India's largest privately owned airline, originally agreed to buy Air Sahara in January last year for around $500 million, but the deal collapsed in June, leading to a bitter legal battle between Jet and the Sahara Group. The deal was revived when a reduced purchase price was agreed during arbitration.
Jet and Air Sahara both have extensive domestic networks and are currently the only privately owned Indian carriers that have international rights, flying to several of the same destinations.
Source: Flight International
