NCLT okays Jet Airways’ revival plan

Mumbai, June 22

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday approved the Jalan Kalrock Consortium’s resolution plan for the bankrupt-Jet Airways, two years after the once-storied airline went into insolvency proceedings.

Financial distress forced Jet Airways, which flew for more than two decades, to suspend operations on April 17, 2019 and a consortium of lenders, led by the SBI, filed an insolvency petition in June 2019, to recover outstanding dues worth over Rs 8,000 crore.

An NCLT Mumbai Bench, chaired by Mohammed Ajmal and V Nallasenapathy, has approved the resolution plan for Jet Airways that will have to be implemented in 90 days starting from June 22.

In an oral order, the Bench also said if further extension of the effective date is required, the resolution applicant (Jalan Kalrock Consortium) can approach the tribunal again.

On the historicity of slot allocations for Jet Airways, the tribunal said it was not giving a direction and the issue will be handled by the government or the appropriate authority.

Slots will be crucial for the revival of Jet Airways once it restarts operations. The slots that were with the airline prior to the suspension of operations in April 2019, have been allocated to other carriers.

The carrier could be back in the skies by the end of this year if everything goes well, according to its resolution professional Ashish Chhawchharia. In October 2020, the airline’s Committee of Creditors approved the resolution plan submitted by the consortium of the UK’s Kalrock Capital and the UAE entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan.

After the CoC gave its approval to the resolution plan, Chhawchharia had approached NCLT stating that the “slots are a vital part of the plan, and it is important that DGCA and MoCA submit their stance on the same”.

However, in a joint affidavit to the tribunal, DGCA and MoCA had submitted that Jet Airways does not qualify for grant of slots on the basis of historic precedence and the allocation will be based on ‘Slot Allocation Guidelines’. — PTI