Jet Airways receives fresh EoIs ahead of the deadline

The employees consortium and the South American based Synergy Group have also submitted their interest in the company.

This is the fourth attempt by the airline’s resolution professional to find a suitor for reviving the ailing company. Previously, South American conglomerate Synergy Group and New Delhi-based Prudent ARC were given time to submit a resolution plan but failed to meet the deadline.

“While we have received several interests this time, we are yet to confirm who will qualify for the second round," said a person aware of the matter. “The timing of these bids is interesting as it comes at a time when the airline industry globally is going through the worst crisis. So we need to verify who are the serious players among them," he added.

Jet Airways was grounded on 18 April 2019 due to acute fund crunch. On 20 June 2019, the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted Jet under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code after lenders referred it to the bankruptcy tribunal.

The cash-strapped airline, which was grounded in April 2019, owes more than ₹8,000 crore to banks, with public sector lenders led by State Bank of India.

The resolution process for Jet Airways has been extended multiple times since the airline was admitted for insolvency resolution.

Earlier this month, fresh expressions of interest for the airline were invited and the deadline for submission was set for 28 May. The latest deadline for completion of Jet Airways’s insolvency resolution was recently extended to 21 August because of the ongoing lockdown.

In March, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had allowed 90 days' extension for the corporate insolvency resolution process of the airline.

Despite its state of affairs, the grounded airline recently offered two of its Boeing 777 wide-body aircraft for evacuation operations of Indians stranded abroad under the Vande Bharat Mission.

Jet Airways could supply up to four aircraft for evacuation missions within a reasonable period of time, Ashish Chhawchharia, who was appointed as the resolution professional to carry out the insolvency process for the airline by lenders, wrote to corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas, Mint reported.