Jet Airways lenders refuse more funding, airline risks shutdown: Report

Bankers have confirmed that there's no money coming in for now to save Jet Airways.

Lenders to Jet Airways India Ltd. have refused to bail out the cash-strapped carrier, according to people familiar with the situation, forcing the nation’s oldest surviving private airline to temporarily ground its flights.

Bankers have confirmed that there’s no money coming in for now, the people said asking not to be identified as the matter is not public. Jet Airways executives, including operational heads, are meeting in Mumbai Tuesday to take a call on complete halt of operations, according to two persons in the know, even as the failing airline scrambles to get a new investor.

A spokesman for the airline declined to comment.

Jet Airways, which broke into the monopoly of state-run Air India Ltd. in the early 1990s, went in a tailspin after a slew of budget airlines started offering ultra-low fares which hurt its profits and led to a mountain of debt over the past decade. It’s now burdened with more than $1 billion in debt and unpaid dues to its employees and leasing firms.

Jet’s shares tumbled as much as 18.5 percent on Tuesday and closed 8.1 percent lower at 240.5 rupees. S&P BSE Sensex advanced nearly 1 percent.

The airline, which was forced to ground 10 more planes last week and suspend international flights, has failed to pay lease rentals on time. Its pilots have been agitating over non-payment of salaries and their union had threatened that they would stop flying.

Lost jobs

Collapse of Jet Airways threatens the loss of about 23,000 jobs and is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., another indebted airline that had to be grounded and whose flashy fugitive founder Indian government is still trying to extradite from London.

Jet Airways’ crisis also comes at an awkward time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who’s rising concerns of unemployment and seeking a re-election bid in national elections that started April 11. The government had tried to help the ailing Jet Airways by asking other carriers to consider taking over a few of its aircraft.

(With assistance from Debjit Chakraborty.)