Employees of Jet Airways (India) Ltd breathed a sigh of relief after the committee of creditors of Jet Airways approved a revival plan for the airline submitted by a consortium consisting of Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan.
However, there are still several uncertainties regarding the revival of Jet Airways, which was once India’s largest private airline. For starters, the slots owned by the airline at key airports, both domestic and international, have been redistributed to other airlines, which may resort to arbitration instead of letting go of the assets.
The new promoters of the airline will also have to invest in the carrier to make it ready to fly again.
“I will believe that Jet Airways will fly again only when the deal closes and when the bidder actually takes over the airline. Right now it’s just a firm bid, which has to be accepted by the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal). We have to wait for negotiations to be completed,” said Mark Martin, chief executive of Martin Consulting Llc.
“The intention should be to bring back an airline that was once India’s finest. This is Jet Airways without the goodwill of founder Naresh Goyal, who knew lessors, vendors, and aircraft manufacturers, and got good deals for his airline. Fresh capital will have to be infused to make the airline work,” Martin said.
Meanwhile, a lot of former employees of the airline are uncertain about its future, whether their pending dues will be cleared or whether they will re-employed by the carrier.
“I have at least three months of salary dues that the airline is yet to pay me,” said a Mumbai-based former cabin crew member with Jet Airways, who has shifted to New Delhi recently to look for a job. “It would be nice if we were offered our dues and jobs back by the new owners of the airline,” the person said, requesting anonymity.
The lenders of Jet Airways on 17 October approved the resolution plan submitted by UK-based Kalrock Capital and UAE-based entrepreneur Jalan to revive and operate the airline over a year after the carrier was grounded because of an acute funds crunch under the ownership of Goyal.
Jet Airways had earlier received bids from two consortiums, one comprising Kalrock Capital and Jalan, and the other by Haryana-based Flight Simulation Technique Centre, Mumbai-based Big Charter, and Abu Dhabi’s Imperial Capital Investments Llc.