Jet Airways revival: Banks back Kalrock-Jalan consortium's extension plea

NCLT to hear matter on Monday; consortium had said extension was necessary to stop company from sliding into liquidation

Banks have lent conditional support to the Kalrock-Jalan consortium plea for an extra two months to fulfill conditions that are required for implementation of Jet Airways revival plan.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will hear the matter again on Monday.

On Friday, the consortium gave a status update of the recertification process to the tribunal. It also indicated a tentative timeline of additional 37 “business days” to meet all the conditions to restore the grounded airline’s air operators certificate. The 60 days is an outer time limit sought to complete the process.

Last June the NCLT cleared the consortium's plan to revive Jet Airways which suspended operations in April 2019. According to its conditions the consortium had 270 days to fulfill conditions that are required for plan implementation. The 270 day limit ended on March 22.

While the consortium said that the June 2021 order allows it to seek a further extension beyond 270 days, the airline’s engineering union has said such an extension is not permissible. The union’s lawyer Vikas Mehta also pointed out that waivers could not be granted in conditions as these would amount to modification of the plan.

Advocate Ashish Vats appearing for the consortium said that the DGCA is currently evaluating documents submitted by them. Twenty- four manuals were submitted in January and six of them have been approved so far. The regulator has approved the appointment of six executives and approval of five others is in process. The company’s board of directors received security clearance from the government last November. The company security clearance application was filed last December.

Six aircraft have been identified for lease which is under process and pilots and crew have been hired for a proving flight.

The additional details were sought as the tribunal is seeking to balance the interests of the consortium and its creditors.

Advocate Krishnendu Datta who also appeared for the consortium said extension was necessary to prevent the company from sliding into liquidation.

Lenders led by Jet Airways have consented to the extension plea on the condition that consortium bear the cost of meeting expenses of the airline like paying airport charges, aircraft parking charges, salary and insurance during the additional period. The consortium will also fund all expenses required for the recertification process from its own pocket. Advocate Janak Dwarkadas said that thus extra cost and risk for the recertification process in the extended time is being borne by consortium and not by the banks.