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In a shot in the arm for the return of Jet airways in the skies again, the National Company Law Tribunal approved the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium’s resolution plan for the airline.
Jet Airways, which suspended operations in April 2019, has been undergoing a resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) for two years, reported PTI.
In October 2020, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of the grounded airline had approved the resolution plan submitted by a consortium of UK’s Kalrock Capital and UAE-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan.
In June 2019, NCLT admitted the insolvency petition against Jet Airways filed by the lenders’ consortium led by the State Bank of India.
The bid by Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan was approved by the Committee of Creditors in October last year. The approval came after several rounds of bidding. However, both the parties do not have any prior experience of running an airline.
The bidders have proposed a total cash flow of rs 1,375 crore for the revival of the airline. They aim to restart operations with 30 aircraft within six months from the approval of the plan by NCLT.
The tribunal gave Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Aviation Ministry 90 days to allot the slots. However, the Aviation Ministry had argued that the airline cannot bank on historicity to claim the slots.
The airline founded by Naresh Goyal over 25 years ago stopped flying on April 17, 2019 as it faced a cash crunch and struggled to keep itself afloat.
