The airline began operations as an air taxi operator in 1993 after being incorporated in April 1992 as a limited Liability Company. Its Domestic services became fully operations in 1995.In the year 2005, the Airlines was shifted to the public sector. Air Sahara, the Airlines Giant of that era was annexed by the Jet Airways. That merger enabled them to emerge as the largest carrier in the country by 2010.       
Its main hub is at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and secondary hubs at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Kempegowda International Airport, Chennai International Airport and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport.                                                                                                                                                        
The Airlines started with a fleet of four leased Boeing 737-300 aircraft. Initially around 1994, all the equity capital was held by Naresh Goyal (60%), Gulf Air (20%) and Kuwait Airways (20%), the shareholders of Tailwinds International. The Ministry of Civil Aviation forbade any kind of foreign investments in passenger airlines on October, 1997 which paved the road for Goyal to take control of the entire company. On December 28, 2004 the company got listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange and Goyal retained 51% leaving him in control of the company. Till 2010, the Jet Airways operated a fleet of Boeing 737 Next Generation and ATR 72 aircraft and operated with higher passenger load factors on profitable short-haul routes.
Jet sold a 24% stake in the airline to Etihad for US$379 million on 12 November 2013. It is the second largest airline in India after IndiGo with a 21.2% passenger market share.        
Jet Airways has three classes of service: First, Première (Business) and Economy.
Jet Airways offers lounge service to First and Première class passengers, along with JetPrivilege Platinum and Gold members. Premier lounges are available at Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai in India.