Jet Airways was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and became public company on 28 December 2004. After the Government lifted the foreign ownership limits on Indian airlines to 49% from the previous 40%, the airline moved to raise funds via an IPO. The company's IPO in February 2005, which offered 20% of the airline's stock, saw strong interest from investors leading to oversubscription in retail, non-institutional and institutional tranches and raised Rs 18.9 billion, instantly making Naresh Goyal a paper billionaire. Towards the end of 2004, the government had announced that privately owned scheduled carriers meeting certain criteria could operate to all countries apart from those in the Middle East. Then in January 2005, the Ministry of Civil Aviation granted rights to Jet Airways to operate services to London Heathrow. The airline started its first international, long-haul flight to London in May 2005 with two-class Airbus A340-300s sub-leased from South African Airways.