The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the Kalrock-Jalan consortium’s resolution plan for Jet Airways, with riders.
The Mumbai bench of the NCLT has given the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) 90 days from June 22 to allot slots to the airline.
“Based on discussions I have been having, given the order has been received today, I think it would be a fair estimate to say that by the end of this calendar year we can hope to Jet in the skies again,” Ashish Chhawchharia, Head of Restructuring Services at Grant Thornton Advisory, told NDTV on Thursday.
Chhawchharia’s company was appointed to oversee the airline’s restoration by a consortium of London-based Kalrock Capital and the UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan which now owns Jet.
Jet Airways was forced to ground all flights in April 2019, crippled by mounting losses. The carrier owes over 8,000 crore rupees to banks, with public sector lenders having significant exposure.
In October 2020, Murari Lal Jalan-Kalrock Capital alliance won the bid for Jet Airways and it’s resolution plan was approved by the airline’s Committee of Creditors (CoC) in October 2020.
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.
The DGCA and the MCA would study the detailed order before deciding on slots, and the process of allocating slots to Jet Airways will take time, according to officials.
In a recent affidavit submitted to the bankruptcy court, the MCA and the DGCA said Jet Airways could not not claim historicity to obtain the slots and that allocation of slots would be done in accordance with the existing guidelines.
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.
