Jet Airways revival plan: Creditors panel to meet today, may decide on extending deadline to two suitors keen on crisis-hit airline

Even as Jet Airways’ Committee of Creditors is to meet today (Tuesday) to decide on extending deadline to two suitors that have evinced interest in the grounded airline, New Delhi-based Prudent ARC reportedly sought more time for submitting its revival proposal for the crisis-hit airline, said news reports. Though the two suitors—namely Prudent ARC and Synergy Group, reportedly expressed their interest to acquire Jet Airways which was grounded in April last year due to acute liquidity crunch, they failed to submit a resolution plan as the deadline to submit bid ended on Monday, said a report in Moneycontrol. Prudent ARC reportedly sought four more weeks’ time to submit a revival proposal for the debt-laden airline, reported Business Standard. [caption id=“attachment_6637731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative image. Reuters[/caption] The second bidder, South America-based Synergy Group, did not submit a plan for Jet Airways and the group reportedly sought clarity on slots in the domestic and international routes of the grounded airline, the report said. Jet Airways has attracted a slew of bidders. Early last month, Synergy Group, which owns majority shares in airlines including Colombian carrier Avianca Holdings, had submitted a fresh expression of interest (EoI) for investing in the bankrupt Jet Airways, reported The Economic Times. In December last year, Synergy Group had sought more time  to take a decision on investing in the grounded airline. In December 2019, the UK-based Hinduja Group yet again expressed interest to buy Jet Airways. The Hinduja Group had plans to submit an expression of interest by the 15 January 2020 deadline, signalling its intent to make a formal offer. However, in January this year, the group reportedly withdrew as it did not find any value in the company. In May 2019, there were reports that Hinduja Group was planning to initiate the bidding process for Jet Airways. The business group and Etihad Airways were also expected to meet on 23 May, 2019 to explore ways to revive the cash-starved airline. However, the Hinduja Group and Etihad Airways failed to strike a deal for joint ownership of Jet Airways. The Committee of Creditors (CoC) sought extension of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of Jet Airways from the Mumbai bench of the NCLT in view of South America’s Synergy Group wanting more time for due diligence and two new interests being shown for the grounded airline. On 17 December, the Aviation Ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had informed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that they would positively consider any concrete business plan for the grounded Jet Airways. The airline owes over Rs 8,500 crore to a consortium of 26 banks led by State Bank, and over Rs 13,000 crore to the tens of hundreds of vendors and around 23,000-odd employees. Lenders to Jet Airways, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), are seeking investors in Jet to recover their dues. The airline’s total liability, including unpaid salaries and vendor dues, is nearly Rs 15,000 crore. – With inputs from agencies