Indian civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola has announced that no more Jet Airways aircraft will be grounded and the airline will fly 40 more aircraft from April onwards. Some 54 aircraft are grounded due to non-payment of lease rentals. The airline’s total fleet stands at 119, of which 103 were flying till December.
On March 25, the Jet Airways board approved the conversion of lenders’ debt into equity by the issuance of 11.4 crore equity shares, which made the consortium of Indian lenders, led by State Bank of India (SBI), the majority shareholders of Jet Airways. The board also accepted the resignation of Naresh Goyal, Anita Goyal, and Kevin Knight, nominee director of Etihad Airways, from their positions on the company’s board.
As part of the resolution plan, the lenders will provide an immediate interim funding support of INR 1500 crore to Jet Airways. The company says that it will also engage with payment intermediaries for release of trapped cash and leverage the funding to partly clear pending dues towards lessors, vendors, creditors and employees in a phased manner. The move will see Jet Airways re-deploy several of its grounded aircraft back into its network, helping renew many of the routes it had temporarily suspended.
An Interim Management Committee (IMC) has been constituted to oversee the overall financial and operational performance of the airline under the overall supervision of the Board of Directors with the support of McKinsey & Co.
As part of the resolution plan, the lenders will also begin the process of sale / issue of shares to new investors which is expected to be completed in the June quarter.