India's biggest private airline Jet Airways is planning to merge JetLite, a fully owned subsidiary, in its fold this financial year. Naresh Goyal, the promoter of Jet, is contemplating the merger to break even by the conclusion of the present calendar year. It was in 2007 that Jet Airways had acquired Air Sahara and re-named it as JetLite, a low cost airline.  

The CEO of Jet Airways, Sudheer Raghavan however said, 'We are not ruling out the merger but haven’t finalized anything. “The company is analysing many options to break even by December end at any cost as aviation is our core business and we are in the industry to do business.'

Sources spilled that Jet wants to raise funds, but financial institutes are ready to invest only if business is lucrative and merged into a single entity. Mr Raghavan explained that financial institutions do not want to invest due to the current dip in the airline business.  

An expert commented that since JetLite has a weak balance sheet, merging it with Jet Airways is a good decision as carriers are looking for ways to remain profitable. Moreover, as a full-fledged carrier and business class target, JetLite didn’t fit into Jet Airways long play strategy.