Winning Bizness Sports Desk
Mumbai. Jet Airways founder and business tycoon Naresh Goyal is currently under ED custody after being arrested in a money laundering case. The ED has alleged that a large part of the Rs 6,000 crore loan given by the banks to Jet Airways was misappropriated. The story of Naresh Goyal reaching from earth to sky began when he reached Delhi empty handed at the age of 18. It is about the year 1967when Goyal's family in Patiala was going through a severe financial crunch. Goyal wanted to end his family's poverty and came to Delhi in 1967. At that time he worked in a travel agency in Connaught Place which was being run by his cousin's grandfather. Goyal used to get Rs 300 per month here.
Learned nitty-gritty of travel industry
Gradually they started spreading their feet in the travel industry and making trusted friends. These friends were from foreign airlines especially in Jordan, Gulf and South East Asia etc. Goyal started understanding the business of the aviation sector. Within a short time he understood the intricacies of this business. He understood everything from taking plane leases to tickets. Goyal opened his own travel agency in 1973 and Jet Air. When Goyal used to go to the offices of airline companies to buy paper tickets, people there used to make fun of him by saying that he had named his travel agency like an airline company. At that time Goyal used to say that one day he would definitely open his own airline company.
Started Jet Airways as an air taxi
In the year 1991, Goyal's dream of opening an airline was fulfilled. He started Jet Airways as an air taxi. At that time, private airlines were not allowed to operate in an organized manner in India. A year later his jets formed a fleet of four ships and the first flight of a jet aircraft began. Goyal bought Air Sahara in 2007 for Rs 1,450 crore to make Jet the only company to fly international flights. At that time this decision was seen as Goyal's mistake. Since then, Jet has never been truly free from financial difficulties.
