Global carriers have flocked to India, lured by a domestic travel boom and what’s expected to be the world’s third-biggest aviation market by 2025. Yet India has proven an intensely competitive market, where profits are scarce and the life expectancy of weaker airlines is anything but certain.
Jet Airways India Ltd., one of the first carriers to launch after the market opened up in the early 1990s, said in a filing this month that it needs cash to meet liquidity requirements. Its stock price is in a free-fall as losses piled up. The company’s board announced a turnaround plan Aug. 27 with scant details, including the sale of its stake in its loyalty program and reduction of 20 billion rupees ($285 million) in costs over two years.
