Aviation

Korean Air plans capacity ramp-up from July; A380s to be deployed in Asia

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By the end of the year, Korean Air will increase its foreign flight capacity to half of what it was before COVID. The increasing demand for travel that resulted from the relaxation of Covid-19-related restrictions is to blame for this. In an endeavor to meet the growing demand, the airline plans to resume flights on a few of its foreign routes and hire more workers. The sky team carrier will return its Airbus A380 into service on Asian routes later in the year as part of a capacity ramp up.

One-third of the 120 international flights that Korean Air offered when the pandemic struck the airline sector in early 2020 are still in operation today. Beginning in July, Korean Air will increase the number of flights on some international routes to the US, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia while also restarting some of those routes.

According to the government’s flight restoration plans, the carrier had originally intended to increase the number of its foreign flights to 50% of the 2019 level by the end of 2022. The Transport Ministry declared in April that it would support regional airlines in bringing the number of inbound and outgoing flights back to 50% of the 2019 level by the end of the year. To meet the growing demand for travel, the carrier expects to start operating the A380 superjumbo on routes to New York, Hong Kong, and Japan in July.

Aviation

No More Jet Airways. Supreme Court Says “No Choice”, Orders Liquidation

Jet Airways was once one of India’s leading airlines, known for its service and extensive network. Founded in 1993, it served millions of passengers, connecting cities across India and international destinations.

However, since grounding its flights in April 2019, Jet Airways has struggled to navigate financial turbulence, leading to years of efforts to revive the airline and return it to the skies.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of Jet Airways, citing “no choice” but to take this decisive step after the resolution plan failed to meet creditor obligations. The court invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142, which allows it to make orders for “complete justice” in any case, overriding previous tribunal rulings.

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The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium (JKC), which had won the bid to revive Jet, faced criticism for not fulfilling payment commitments to creditors, which included major banks like the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.

The Supreme Court’s ruling pointed to “peculiar and alarming” issues surrounding the resolution plan’s implementation, leading to its conclusion that liquidation was the only feasible outcome.

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Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, alongside Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, emphasized that while liquidation should be a last resort, it was necessary as the resolution plan was “no longer capable of implementation.”

In line with this decision, the court ordered that the ₹200 crore already infused by JKC be forfeited and directed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in Mumbai to appoint a liquidator to oversee the process.

JKC, a partnership between Murari Jalan, a UAE-based Indian entrepreneur, and Florian Fritsch, a Jet shareholder through Kalrock Capital Partners Limited, had taken ownership of Jet Airways two years after it was grounded. The consortium’s inability to fulfill its financial obligations has now led to this final verdict, marking the end of an era for Jet Airways in India.