The Jalan Kalrock Committee has sought an extension to make payments to the Committee of Creditors of bankrupt airline Jet Airways. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has asked the JKC to file an application stating the conditions for seeking an extension to make the payments.
The committee has said that it will deposit Rs 100 crore by August 31, and Rs 100 crore by September 30 and the CoC can encash bank guarantee of Rs 150 crore immediately.
The CoC had earlier said that it may not pursue its filed an appeal with the NCLAT if the consortium paid the Rs 350 crore due. “Once they deposit Rs 350 crore, we may not be inclined to go ahead with the appeal,” the counsel informed the appellate tribunal, stating that “we also want the plan to work.” The application filed by the State Bank of India, the primary lender, and others pertains to the transfer of ownership of the airline to JKC, the winning bidder for Jet Airways.
The NCLAT on Friday sought to know the conditions for JKC filing an extension appeal. Cash-strapped Jet Airways stopped flying on April 17, 2019.
The counsel informed that the consortium has, time and again, failed on its promise. The deadline to pay Rs 350 crore was extended by the National Company Law Tribunal in May.
Aviation safety regulator DGCA has renewed with conditions the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of Jet Airways until September 3. The AOC was re-issued on May 20, 2022. However, since the airline did not start operations, it expired on May 19 this year.
No-frills carrier IndiGo carried 76.75 lakh passengers, cornering a market share of 63.4 per cent during the reporting month. Akasa Air, which completed one year of its operations on 7th of this month once again flew more passengers than the established carrier SpiceJet at 6.24 lakh passengers in July with a market share of 5.2 per cent, according to DGCA data.
Jet Airways, which stopped operations due to financial crunch, went through lengthy insolvency proceedings and the JKC emerged as the winning bidder. However, the transfer of ownership to JKC is yet to happen amid persisting differences with the airline’s lenders.In October 2020, the airline’s Committee of Creditors (CoC) approved the revival plan submitted by the consortium of Dubai-based Murari Lal Jalan and the UK’s Kalrock Capital.
In June 2021, JKC’s bid was approved under the insolvency resolution process. However, the implementation of the plan is getting delayed.
The consortium had appointed Sanjiv Kapoor as its interim-CEO in April 2022, who quit the carrier in April this year.
