Naresh Goyal's Jetair submits bid for Jet Airways with support from US, London firms; lenders unlikely to consider offer

A consortium of US firm and Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal’s Jetair has reportedly submitted the expression of interest (EoI) for acquiring a stake in the ailing airline with the backing of a London company. However, lenders, who will decide about emergency funding for the crisis-hit Jet Airways on Monday, are not keen to allow him to enter the board again, said media reports. Goyal’s general sales agency Jetair has reportedly gained support for its offer for Jet Airways stake acquisition from Future Trend Capital, a firm based in US’ Delaware, according to The Economic Times. The report said that the bid from the Future Trend-Jetair consortium reached at 6:08 pm, eight minutes after the deadline for submitting the EoIs. The newspaper added that Adi Partners, a London-based firm, is also associated with the group of Jetair and Future Trend. [caption id=“attachment_6238051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Naresh Goyal. Reuters.[/caption] Another report said that lenders to Jet Airways may not consider an initial bid from Goyal to regain control of the troubled airline as he did not fulfil certain conditions set by them while submitting the EoI on Friday. The consortium of lenders that prepared the rescue deal for the debt-laden Jet Airways permitted Goyal was allowed to submit an EoI on the condition that he bid as part of a consortium with other investors where he would hold a minority stake, said a report in Mint quoting people in the know of the matter. However, Goyal had not met those conditions in his bid submitted on Friday, the sources said adding a final decision on the bid would be conveyed to him after considering legal opinion. Meanwhile, the management of Jet Airways will meet lenders of the airline on Monday with a fresh plan to seek the interim funding of Rs 1,500 crore that they had promised earlier as part of the rescue deal, according to a report in The Times of India. Any move like refusal or delay in the release the fund on the part of the lenders will totally ground the beleaguered Jet Airways immediately, said the report. Pilots defer no flying call The cash-strapped Jet Airways on Sunday averted a deeper crisis after its pilots body, the National Aviatior’s Guild (NAG), deferred its “no flying” call to a later date from Monday, when the management is scheduled to meet the lenders, said a PTI report. Earlier in the day, the guild, which has around 1,100 pilots as its members, decided to stop flying from 15 April in protest against non-payment of salaries since March. However, in a communication to its members, the pilots body announced postponement of its “no pay no work” call for the second time in less than two weeks, saying it wanted to give more time to the company which is struggling to survive due to a severe paucity of cash. The airline’s pilots along with engineers and senior staff were last paid for December, 2018. This apart, the airline has also defaulted on the March salary of other categories of employees as well. Jet suspends services to Toronto, Paris Meanwhile, the airline extended the suspension of its services to Toronto and Paris from Chennai and back, besides withdrawing services from SAARC and ASEAN routes for an indefinite period. It also announced the resignation of one of its independent directors, Rajshree Pathy, from the company for other commitments. In an exchange filing, the Jet Airways said, “This is to inform you that Rajshree Pathy has submitted her resignation as an Independent Director of the company with effect from April 13, owing to time constraints and on account of her other current commitments.” — With PTI inputs