Goyal blasted a high-level team from ATR last week, terming his airline'smove to acquire ATR turbo-prop aircraft as "the worst decision in its entireoperational history".

Sources present at the meeting said Goyal was upset as the acquisition hasnot proved economically viable.

Jet has an operating-lease agreement with Aircraft International Renting forfive brand-new ATRs manufactured by the French-Italian aircraft major AvionsDe Transport Regional.

Of these, four have already been inducted in Jet's fleet. The companyannounced acquisition of the fifth aircraft on Tuesday to serviceChennai-Hyderabad. Sources said Jet can cancel the lease under specialcircumstances only if an exit clause exists in the agreement. Jet Airwaysacquired the first of the 64-seater ATR 72-500 in October 1999. Sources saidJet had no option but to acquire the fifth aircraft as the lease agreementwas signed for five aircraft.

Jet Airways inducted the turbo-prop in its fleet at a time when turbo-proptechnology has been phased-out in most parts of the world, having beenreplaced by superior jet aircraft technology.

Turbo-prop aircraft operate with propellors and have more vibrations andlower speed compared to modern jets. Passenger acceptability in terms ofboth noise and safety concerns has been going down for turbo-props.Jet Airways had inducted the ATRs to increase its operations on regionalroutes such as Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Udaipur,Mumbai-Bhavnagar, Hyderabad-Tirupathi and Hyderabad-Vizag. It is the firstdomestic airline in the country to induct the ATRs though other airlineswere also planning similar moves.

While Sahara Airlines' plan to set up a regional airline subsidiary withEmbraer aircraft announced last year did not see the light of day, IndianAirlines (IA) rejected a proposal suggested by the civil aviation ministryto acquire turbo-props for its north-east operations. The IA board had saidthat turbo-prop operations will not prove economically viable for theairline.

Incidenatlly, Jet Airways has repeatedly asked the civil avaition ministryto give special concessions for turb-prop aircraft in order to encourageregional air connectivity in the country. The ministry had agreed to taxconcessions on aviaition turbine fuel (ATF) for turb-props. However,notification on this is yet to be issued by the Centre.

The Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways has a fleet of 25 Boeing 737 aircraft.The airline, the second biggest after IA, earned an operating revenue of Rs1600 crore in 1999-2000.