<p class="title">Jet Airways was teetering on the brink of collapse on Wednesday, operating just five planes and waiting for lenders to release emergency funds to keep the debt-saddled carrier flying.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Airfares on rival carriers have soared and Air France and KLM are operating additional flights to Mumbai to accommodate passengers affected by Jet's decision to cancel international flights.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the airline seeks an immediate injection of four billion rupees ($57.5 million) to continue its few remaining services, AFP takes a look at where it all went wrong for Jet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Many aviation experts believe the start of Jet's financial troubles can be traced back to the 2006 purchase of Air Sahara for $500 million in cash.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Founder Naresh Goyal reportedly ignored the advice of professional associates who said he was paying too much. Market reaction to the deal was also decidedly mixed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The budget carrier was rebranded "JetLite" but it haemorrhaged money and in 2015, Jet wrote off its entire investment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The acquisition is still a millstone around the company's neck," Devesh Agarwal, editor of the Bangalore Aviation website, told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Aviation sector is fiercely competitive and Jet has taken a battering from a number of hugely successful low-cost airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Experts said the people running Jet failed to take the trio seriously when they were founded between 2005 and 2006, offering cut-price fares and previously unserved routes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"They were essentially assumed to be fringe players by the Jet management," industry analyst Amrit Pandurangi told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jet always catered to corporates and failed to recognise that low-cost carriers were attracting customers who were price sensitive," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext"> Experts put a lot of the blame on Goyal's management style.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They say his decision to have a single management team, headed by himself, running all Jet's operations was a crucial mistake.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Analysts say he should have had one team running the full-service carrier and another running the budget flyer.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jet lacked a concrete business model and fiddled with it often, which confused investors, (and) passengers alike," said Agarwal, who believes the company's decisions lacked transparency.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Goyal has also been accused of making bad investments and failing to address the company's deteriorating financial predicament while borrowing heavily.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Simply put, they spent more than they earned and kept accruing debts," added Agarwal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">All carriers are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in global crude prices because the Asian giant is a major importer of oil.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When the rupee is weak, which it has often been over the past year or so, fuel -- the biggest cost burden for airlines -- becomes more expensive.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Soaring oil costs and the Indian rupee hitting record lows last year affected all Indian carriers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">IndiGo and SpiceJet reported massive losses but analysts say their books were resilient enough to weather the quarterly losses. Jet's, however, were saddled with debts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jet Airways failed to manage its balance sheets and was caught out by these cyclical changes in the industry," Mumbai-based economist Ashutosh Datar told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Aviation analysts say Goyal's failure to find a strategic investor to pump money into Jet extended the airline's losses, contributing to the financial predicament it finds itself in today.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Talks at the end of last year with tea-to-steel conglomerate Tata failed to go anywhere, while Etihad Airways reportedly refused to increase its stake because Goyal was at the helm.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 69-year-old was forced to give up control of Jet last month as part of a debt resolution deal that saw a consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India take over the airline.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is now up to them to find a buyer. If they don't then Jet is likely to become the first Indian airline to collapse since fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines ceased operations in 2012.</p>
<p class="title">Jet Airways was teetering on the brink of collapse on Wednesday, operating just five planes and waiting for lenders to release emergency funds to keep the debt-saddled carrier flying.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Airfares on rival carriers have soared and Air France and KLM are operating additional flights to Mumbai to accommodate passengers affected by Jet's decision to cancel international flights.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the airline seeks an immediate injection of four billion rupees ($57.5 million) to continue its few remaining services, AFP takes a look at where it all went wrong for Jet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Many aviation experts believe the start of Jet's financial troubles can be traced back to the 2006 purchase of Air Sahara for $500 million in cash.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Founder Naresh Goyal reportedly ignored the advice of professional associates who said he was paying too much. Market reaction to the deal was also decidedly mixed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The budget carrier was rebranded "JetLite" but it haemorrhaged money and in 2015, Jet wrote off its entire investment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The acquisition is still a millstone around the company's neck," Devesh Agarwal, editor of the Bangalore Aviation website, told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Aviation sector is fiercely competitive and Jet has taken a battering from a number of hugely successful low-cost airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Experts said the people running Jet failed to take the trio seriously when they were founded between 2005 and 2006, offering cut-price fares and previously unserved routes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"They were essentially assumed to be fringe players by the Jet management," industry analyst Amrit Pandurangi told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jet always catered to corporates and failed to recognise that low-cost carriers were attracting customers who were price sensitive," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext"> Experts put a lot of the blame on Goyal's management style.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They say his decision to have a single management team, headed by himself, running all Jet's operations was a crucial mistake.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Analysts say he should have had one team running the full-service carrier and another running the budget flyer.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jet lacked a concrete business model and fiddled with it often, which confused investors, (and) passengers alike," said Agarwal, who believes the company's decisions lacked transparency.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Goyal has also been accused of making bad investments and failing to address the company's deteriorating financial predicament while borrowing heavily.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Simply put, they spent more than they earned and kept accruing debts," added Agarwal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">All carriers are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in global crude prices because the Asian giant is a major importer of oil.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When the rupee is weak, which it has often been over the past year or so, fuel -- the biggest cost burden for airlines -- becomes more expensive.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Soaring oil costs and the Indian rupee hitting record lows last year affected all Indian carriers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">IndiGo and SpiceJet reported massive losses but analysts say their books were resilient enough to weather the quarterly losses. Jet's, however, were saddled with debts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jet Airways failed to manage its balance sheets and was caught out by these cyclical changes in the industry," Mumbai-based economist Ashutosh Datar told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Aviation analysts say Goyal's failure to find a strategic investor to pump money into Jet extended the airline's losses, contributing to the financial predicament it finds itself in today.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Talks at the end of last year with tea-to-steel conglomerate Tata failed to go anywhere, while Etihad Airways reportedly refused to increase its stake because Goyal was at the helm.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 69-year-old was forced to give up control of Jet last month as part of a debt resolution deal that saw a consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India take over the airline.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is now up to them to find a buyer. If they don't then Jet is likely to become the first Indian airline to collapse since fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines ceased operations in 2012.</p>