History has been created on the Indian airlines industry. And it means one of the country’s top-ranking airlines Jet Airways all set to soar higher.

Etihad Airways of the United Arab Emirates and Jet Airways of India recently announced that the UAE national carrier has agreed to subscribe for 27,263,372 new shares in Jet Airways at a price of INR754.74 per share. The value of this equity investment is US$379 million and will result in Etihad Airways holding 24 per cent of the enlarged share capital of Jet Airways.

Passengers from 23 cities in India will benefit from direct connections to international destinations. New flights from JetAirways’ home hubs and metro airports will further strengthen its current operations from these airports. Jet Airways’ vision continues to be to develop Delhi and Mumbai airports as its primary home hubs and connecting them to Asian, European and other regions.

Details of the investment were unveiled by Etihad AirwaysPresident and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, and the Chairman of Jet Airways, Naresh Goyal.

Mr Hogan said: “We are pleased to have reached this significant stage in India with Jet Airways and are certain the partnership will bring significant benefits and opportunities for global growth to both airlines.

“We look forward to collaborating with Jet Airways and constructively working together with them and their stakeholders to build a sustainable, competitive and profitable airline.”

Mr Goyal said: “I would like to thank the Government of India, especially the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Commerce and Industry, and Finance, for having the foresight to introduce the historic reform of allowing foreign direct investment into civil aviation in India. Infusion of FDI in the domestic sector will result in the improvement of the economics of aviation, grow traffic at our airports, and create job opportunities.”

A key component of the wide-ranging partnership is expanded code-sharing on flights with passengers benefiting from reciprocal ‘earn-and-burn’ rights on the airlines’ frequent flyer programs.

Etihad Airways currently flies to nine Indian destinations including Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kochi, with a total of 63 flights per week.

Jet Airways and JetKonnect together operate over 580 flights daily.