JetLite

Formerly known as Air Sahara, JetLite is an airline based in New Delhi, India. It is controlled by the Jet airways. The main base of JetLite is Indira Gandhi International Airport and its hubs are Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad and Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. Chennai International Airport (Chennai), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, (Ahmedabad) and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (Kolkata) are the focus cities of the airline.

JetLite connects all the metropolitan centers in India and also provides helicopters for charter services and aerial photography. After being taken over by Jet Airways, the airline has been offering air travel at low costs, in a bid to reposition itself as a value carrier. It has also stopped the complimentary food service and now any eatables have to be purchased separately on board. Many of the Jet Airways routes have now been taken by JetLine, to compete with the full service carriers on those routes.

History
JetLite was originally established under the name of Sahara Airlines, in September 1991, as a part of the Sahara Parivar, a major business conglomerate in India. It began operating on December 1993, with two Boeing 737-200 aircrafts. The operations were limited to northern India in the beginning, but soon extended to cover the whole of the country. The airline was re-branded as Air Sahara in October 2000, but it continued to be registered under the name of Sahara India. In March 2004, Air Sahara scheduled its first international flight from Chennai to Colombo and became an international carrier.

Takeover By Jet Airways
In January 2006, Jet Airways announced its first take over attempt on Air Sahara. It also got approval from the Indian Aviation Ministry, but the deal was later called off, following disagreements over pricing and other issues. Consequently, both the companies sued each other to seek compensation for the damages. However, the deal was finally brokered in April 2007, with Jet Airways paying a huge sum to buy Air Sahara. Soon, a new name for the airline was announced and JetLite came into existence.

Destinations Covered
Among the domestic destinations served by JetLite are Chhattisgarh, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The international destinations that it flies to are Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Fleet
JetLite owns a fleet of 24 aircrafts, including seven Boeing 737-800, seven Boeing 737-700, seven Bombardier CRJ-200ER, two Boeing 737-400 and one Boeing 737-300. The airline has three Ecureuil Helicopter and one Dauphin Helicopter as well, for operating on two non-scheduled routes.