The two potential suitors that submitted Expressions of Interest (EOIs) in January for the acquisition of Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International) have missed a February 17 deadline to submit a binding resolution plan. But one of them has asked for four more weeks to do so, the Business Standard newspaper reported.
New Delhi-based firm Prudent Asset Reconstruction Company requested an additional four weeks to submit a proposal to revive the defunct carrier, sources close to the matter said. It is in talks with investors and has submitted letters of support from them.
The second suitor, South American conglomerate Synergy Aerospace, did not submit a plan, with sources explaining that a lack of clarity over slots at London Heathrow remains an issue for the group.
Jet Airways' committee of creditors agreed at a meeting on February 18 to extend the deadline for the submission of bids to March 10. An unnamed source told the Press Trust of India that the committee had also been swayed by a new expression of interest from a consortium of Russia's state-owned, Moscow-based Far East Asia Development Fund. The fund has interests ranging from oil and gas to real estate, and its local partner Mumbai-based Enso Group.
Jet Airways once possessed 20% to 30% of the available slots at Delhi International and Mumbai International and overseas traffic rights, but these were temporarily allocated to other carriers after the carrier's grounding in April 2019. The Indian government has yet to provide guidance as to whether a buyer would be able to retrieve all of the slots.
At its peak, the airline operated 115 aircraft, but lessors have repossessed most. Eleven remain - two A330-200s, two B737-800s, one B737-900, and six B777-300(ER)s, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.
