Wit lenders rejecting an lifeline of Rs 400 crore on Wednesday, 17 April, Jet Airways, which has been on a wing and prayer since January, is left with no other option but to ground operations – at least temporarily.
Wit lenders rejecting an lifeline of Rs 400 crore on Wednesday, 17 April, Jet Airways, which has been on a wing and prayer since January, is left with no other option but to ground operations – at least temporarily.
Since the 25 March resolution to infuse Rs 1,500 crore into the airline is yet to fructify, the once leading airline has been defaulting on payments, forcing its lessors to retake almost all its planes and was operating just about six planes as of Tuesday.
“The Jet Airways management’s request for Rs 400 crore emergency funds has been rejected. The airline has failed to garner the funds it was desperately looking for to continue operations,” banking sources told PTI.
According to sources, the government is maintaining distance from the Jet affairs citing the matter is a commercial decision of banks.
Official Announcement Expected Shortly
An official announcement of grounding of operations is expected anytime now. The Jet Airways board had authorised chief executive Vinay Dube to make one last appeal to the SBI-led consortium to get a lifeline of Rs 400 crore before taking a final call on the future.
Jet will be the seventh airline to go down since May 2014 and the 13th one after East West was shuttered.
During the past five years airlines like Air Pegasus, Air Costa, Air Carnival, Air Deccan, Air Odisha and Zoom Air have all gone belly up even as the government boasts of double-digits growth for more than four years in tow.