page_title: JetLite
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: JetLite / History
caption_attribution_description: Air Sahara Bombardier CRJ200ER (VT-SAR) @ IXRVERC (2005/01/23 Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, Jharkhand, INDIA)
context_page_description: JetLite was a low-cost subsidiary of Jet Airways. It was formerly known as Air Sahara until the buyout by Jet Airways which rebranded the airline as JetLite. On April 17, 2019, JetLite grounded all of its flights and ceased all operations, in tandem with its parent company, Jet Airways.
context_section_description: The airline was established on 20 September 1991 and began operations on 3 December 1993 with two Boeing 737-200 aircraft as Sahara Airlines, as part of the major Sahara India Pariwar business conglomerate. Initially, services were primarily concentrated in the northern sectors of India, keeping Delhi as its base, and then operations were extended to cover all the country. Sahara Airlines was rebranded as Air Sahara on 2 October 2000, although Sahara Airlines remains the carrier's registered name. On 22 March 2004 it became an international carrier with the start of flights from Chennai to Colombo, later expanding to London, Singapore, Maldives and Kathmandu. It had also planned to become the first private Indian carrier to serve China with flights to Guangzhou from winter 2006, however, this did not materialize. The uncertainty over the airline's fate caused its share of the domestic Indian air transport market to go down from approximately 11% in January 2006 to a reported 8.5% in April 2007.
caption: A Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft in Air Sahara livery at Ranchi Airport c.2005
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