Jet Airways revival plan gets court’s nod

The revival plan for Jet Airways, which was submitted by a consortium of the UAE-based Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital, was approved by India’s top bankruptcy court on Tuesday, clearing the way for the grounded carrier’s long-delayed relaunch in less than six months.

The National Companies Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the resolution plan for the embattled airline which was forced to stop operations In April amid mounting losses to the tune of Rs80 billion consequent to tough competition with low-cost rivals.

As part of the revival plan, NCLT has given 90 days to director-general of Civil Aviation and Aviation Ministry to allot slots to the debt-laden Jet Airways. Already 30 airports had agreed to give back the slots used by the airline before it went bust.

During its hey days, Jet Airways had about 700 time slots, allowing it to land and depart from congested airports such as Mumbai and Delhi. After the suspension of operations in April 2019, Jet Airways' slots were allocated to other airlines.

Airline sources said more talks would be needed to determine new domestic and international routes for Jet Airways, which operated a fleet of more than 120 planes serving dozens of domestic destinations and international hubs such as Singapore, London and Dubai at the time.

It has been learned from sources close to the Kalrock-Jalan consortium that Jet Airways would fly again by the end of the calendar year. It will initially operate on 20 routes, with 20 narrow-body aircraft and 5 wide-bodied aircraft. The initial routes will primarily be domestic, but a handful may be international as the airline retains a very strong brand value.

Jet Airways, which has been undergoing a resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code over the past two years, will re-employ those who have remained loyal to the airline and hire more personnel as the airline expands.

In October 2020, the Committee of Creditors of the airline had approved the resolution plan submitted by the Kalrock-Jalan consortium.

Jet Airways has almost 21,000 creditors seeking claims of around $6 billion. It has lost most of its landing slots in the time it hasn’t been flying.

Investors remained optimistic about the airline successfully emerging from a restructuring, sending its shares soaring 316 per cent in 2020 despite the industry being plunged into crisis.

Jet Airways rose five per cent on Tuesday following a similar gain the previous day, trimming its 2021 loss to 18 per cent.

— issacjohn@khalejtimes.com