The last few days, a lot of ink has been spent on the future of Jet Airways. One thing I know for sure, they’ll survive. They’ve come back from the brink a few times. For the rest, we all now know that the Tata group is confirmed to be in talks with Jet Airways, but we don’t know where this goes at the moment. It could be a few days before you could hear of a deal in Jet Airways news, or it could be a few weeks. Too soon to call it a done deal.
My consistent appeal to Jet Airways has been to keep their customers in the loop and get ahead of this situation by treating people like adults and not hiding as if nothing happened. It seems at least Mr Dube; the CEO reads this site. So, this evening we have emails from Jet Airways talking about the troubles, and asking for our support. I’ve screenshot and enclosed the entire email for your reference.
Notably, the part that stands out for me is right towards the end. It says,
We are in active discussions with various investors to secure sustainable financing to navigate through the current headwinds and create long-term growth. There is interest in our strong brand and confidence in our business turnaround efforts.
There are a couple of things this indicates. One, any funds from here on for this airline will have to come from external sources and not the promoters. And the use of the word ‘investor’, means, well, it would be a share transaction. Not a loan, not a bridge financing, but a share sale or new sale issuance. This is the first time that the airline has used this term and that should say a lot for the situation they are in.
What do you make out of the new communication from the CEO of Jet Airways?
I think it would be unwise on any investors part to just accept a stake in Jet. They would need to de diligent in scrutinising Jets financials, get it audited and perhaps microanalyse before putting forward any offer. Am sure they would do this anyway but I am also cautiously optimistic if jet management looks at the reality they should accept offers to bring it back to glorious days once again. They have lots of loyal customers.