Jet Airways’ prospective owners claim to have paid $42 Million to start the process of acquiring the airline

Many months after the team that was brought together to start the operations of Jet Airways, including the CEO-designate Sanjiv Kapoor, moved on, the Jalan Kalrock Consortium finally seems to be starting to introduce money to close the transaction of acquiring the airline.

Jalan Kalrock Consortium finally pays up.

The Jalan-Kalrock consortium today advised that it has completed an infusion of INR 100 Crores (USD 12 Million) towards the dues payable to the Creditors of the Airline. The airline had advised in August 2023 that it had infused a similar sum in August 2023 as well, apart from advising the Committee of Creditors of Jet Airways to encash their INR 150 Crores (USD 18 Million) worth bank guarantees provided to the creditors.

With this move, the consortium claims to have cleared the first tranche of payments due worth INR 350 Crores (USD 42 Million equivalent) to gain control of the defunct airline.

a large airplane on the tarmac

As per the statement issued by Jalan Kalrock,

With this infusion, JKC has now fulfilled its total financial commitment of INR 350 crore equity (sic?) as per the court-approved resolution plan, and all and all commitments by JKC now stand fulfilled to take control of the iconic airline.

The consortium’s strategy to revive the airline remains unaltered. The new promoters are determined to re-establish the operations of the airline up and running in 2024. Further announcements regarding the launch date of Jet Airways will now be made in the coming weeks.

The stalemate between the prospective owners of Jet Airways and their creditors was broken when the SBI-led consortium of creditors told the Supreme Court of India that it might be more prudent to wind up the airline given they did not see any funds infusion towards their end. Last month (August 2023), there was a final agreement, which led to the Bank receiving the first tranch of INR 250 Crores (including the INR 150 Crore Bank Guarantee), and now JKC claims to have paid.

Honestly, that statement sounds like it was written by a five-year-old rather than a communications professional. I can only imagine how much further they are in the process of restarting operations without a CEO, Pilots, IT Systems providers and aircraft at the moment.

Last year, workers at the grounded airline had a victory in the NCLAT where they convinced the court that their dues worth INR 224 Crores (approximately USD 27 Million) should also be counted as a part of the money to be reimbursed by the new owners, and this is where the preparation to get the airline in the air came to a halt.

Bottomline

Jet Airways’ committee of creditors might have something to look forward to, with the prospective owner claiming to have paid INR 350 Crores (USD 42 Million) towards the first tranche of taking ownership of the airline. Now, it remains to be seen if they get the airline’s control.

What do you make of this effort to restart Jet Airways?


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About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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