The role of the current Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International) CEO has been clarified after a member of airline's monitoring committee objected to him using the title and speaking publicly about Jet Airways until the ownership transition to the Kalrock Capital-Murari Lal Jalan consortium (JKC) is finalised.

Multiple India-based media sources are reporting that Ashish Chhawchharia, the non-voting head of the seven-person Jet Airways monitoring committee, sent an email to Sanjiv Kapoor on Monday, January 2, 2023, asking him to cease speaking out about the airline and using the CEO title.

The well-respected Kapoor, who has worked as chief operations officer (COO) for SpiceJet, COO for Vistara, and most recently as president of Oberoi Hotels, was appointed to the top job at Jet Airways in March 2022 by JKC. On occasion since then, he has spoken on the record to clarify reports concerning the airline's prolonged ownership transition.

Also highly-regarded, Chhawchharia is head of restructuring services and a partner at Grant Thornton in India. He was appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) overseeing the Jet Airways' restructuring and sale process to lead the monitoring team which also comprises three members appointed by JKC and three members appointed by lenders.

Jet Airways ceased operations in April 2019 after it was unable to secure last-minute funding to pay fuel bills and other immediate expenses. In June 2019, a consortium of creditors led by the State Bank of India filed a bankruptcy petition at the NCLT. In the same month, the creditors appointed Grant Thornton as the "resolution professionals" to manage the Jet Airways bankruptcy process.

After four expression of interest rounds and multiple airlines and entities running the ruler over the remains of Jet Airways, in October 2020, JKC won the rights to acquire the airline. In 1H 2021, JKC, Grant Thornton, and the lenders nutted out a debt resolution and restructuring plan that the NCLT approved in June of that year. The deal would see lenders collect only five cents for every dollar owed, and JKC got the go-ahead to buy and relaunch the airline contingent on agreed recapitalisations and payment timelines to creditors being met. However, despite the NCLT approval, the creditors have the final say in the ownership transfer and they haven't okayed that, raising an ongoing series of issues in the last 18 months. JKC has also played hardball, mostly recently taking the lenders back to the NCLT in an attempt to get binding orders issued allowing the ownership transfer.

Over two years since JKC won the rights to acquire Jet Airways, the lending syndicate is arguing that JKC hasn't fulfilled three of the five conditions precedent in the approved resolution plan. However, JKC says it has met every single one of them. This week's call on Kapoor to tone down is the latest skirmish in what's evolved into a long-running war of corporate attrition.

In response to Chhawchharia's email, Jet Airways moved to clarify Kapoor's role and issued the following statement. "Mr Sanjiv Kapoor has been designated as the CEO of the to-be revived Jet Airways by JKC after receipt of his security clearance from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. However, until the ownership of Jet Airways is transferred to JKC, he remains CEO-Designate."