Quixplained: Grounded since 2019, is there potential to revive Jet Airways?

Last week, a group of lenders approved a bid by a consortium for revival of Jet Airways, which has been grounded since April 2019 for lack of funds. This could be the first step in a possible turnaround of India’s oldest private airline.

Jet Airways’ creditors have approved a resolution plan submitted by a consortium of UK-based Kalrock Capital and UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan. Jalan was initially a paper trader who later diversified into various sectors such as real estate, mining, construction, FMCG, dairy, travel and tourism, and industrial works. He currently has investments in the UAE, India, Russia and Uzbekistan.

Jet Airways’ creditors have approved a resolution plan submitted by a consortium of UK-based Kalrock Capital and UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan. It is noteworthy that neither of the parties in the consortium have experience in managing a passenger airline. The next step is for the lenders to get an approval for the resolution plan from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Once the NCLT approval is in, the investors are ready to take the airline to the skies within six months, people in know of the matter have said. However, things may not turn out to be quite as straightforward. The new investors are said to be looking at investing Rs 1,000 crore into Jet Airways, but it is unclear at this point whether the monies would be used towards repaying the creditors, vendors, employees, etc., or towards getting the airline back on its feet. Currently, the airline has 12 aircraft on its books — nine wide-bodied planes and three narrow-bodied Boeing 737s. While Jet Airways is expected to retain its iconic brand identity and its business model of being a full-service carrier, it is likely that in the first year of its operations, the airline will operate only domestically. Even as the news of a resolution plan being approved by the lenders has caused some cheer among the staff of Jet Airways — which, at its peak, had around 17,000 employees — the new investors are yet to take a call on who will be retained.

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