Jet Airways delays ECB repayment amid liquidity crunch, defaults debt payback fourth time in recent months

New Delhi: Crisis-hit Jet Airways, where lenders are set to take control under a debt resolution plan, on Thursday said it has delayed repayment of overseas borrowing due to “temporary liquidity constraints”. [caption id=“attachment_2693392” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file image of a Jet Airways aircraft. PTI[/caption] This is at least the fourth time that the airline has defaulted on debt repayment in recent months. After weeks of speculations and uncertainties over the future course of Jet Airways, which has grounded over 80 planes due to financial woes, the airline’s board on Monday approved a resolution plan formulated by SBI-led domestic lenders. “… the the repayment of the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB), availed by the company for working capital purposes, falling due on 28 March, 2019, has been delayed owing to temporary liquidity constraints,” the airline said in a filing to the BSE. The company has engaged with the lender in relation to the same, it added. As part of the resolution plan, on Monday, Naresh Goyal quit as chairman of the embattled airline and the board also approved lenders taking control as well as immediate fund infusion of Rs 1,500 crore.