Bankruptcy court approves Kalrock-Jalan’s resolution plan for revival of Jet Airways

The bankruptcy court on Tuesday approved the resolution plan of Kalrock Capital and entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan for reviving Jet Airways, almost two years after the defunct airline was admitted under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).
Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), while allowing the resolution plan in an oral order, directed the successful bidders to get required approvals and licences from relevant authorities within 90 days.

The tribunal presided by judicial members Janab Mohammed Ajmal and V Nallasenapathy clarified that determination of landing slots to the Jet Airways will be done by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) only, and the plan’s approval is subject to getting licences from the relevant departments.



This means the airline will not have historic rights over the landing slots available to Jet Airways before it was grounded in April 2019.

The Kalrock-Jalan consortium had sought the tribunal’s intervention to direct DGCA and the civil aviation ministry to approve the company historical rights on those landing slots.

Lawyers of Kalrock Capital and Jalan declined to comment on the matter immediately after the open court session, citing that the order was not uploaded yet.

“Our hard work over the last two years has paid off, and today’s order will pave the way for the revival of Jet Airways 2.0,” said Jet Airways’ resolution professional Ashish Chhawchharia who is a recovery and reorganisation partner at Grant Thornton Bharat.

“We will now work together with the Jalan-Kalrock consortium to facilitate a smooth implementation of the plan in the coming weeks,” he said. “The airline has been a national icon, and flyers have been eagerly waiting to see it in the skies again.”

The revival plan envisages starting operation with 30 aircraft within six months from the approval of the plan by NCLT.

The company had received claims of about Rs 24,8879 crore, out of which Rs 8,462 crore were admitted by the resolution professional.

As per the plan, workers and employees will get Rs 113 crore against their claim of over Rs 1,200 crore in 180 days, while financial creditors will get Rs 1,010 crore against their claims of Rs 7,454 crore in tranches in five years.

Founded in 1992 by Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways had stopped flying on April 17, 2019, as it failed to raise money to keep itself afloat and was admitted for the resolution process in June 2019.

While the bankruptcy court was hearing the revival plan, the Kalrock-Jalan consortium had sought clarification from the civil aviation ministry and DGCA about availability of slots to the company based on historicity.

The government in its response had clarified: “These slots are not the assets of the corporate operator and for any airline; they are merely permissions, which remain with the airline subject to fulfilment of certain requirements… Further, bilateral rights are national assets and not the asset of any airline that uses them and is to be optimally utilised at all times. Given the said factual position, the same can’t be claimed as a matter of right.”

Senior counsel Gaurav Joshi and advocate Rohan Rajadhyaksha represented the resolution professional at the NCLT hearing, senior advocate Ravi Kadam appeared for the Kalrock-Jalan consortium, advocates Udayan Shah and Ashish Mehta appeared for the ministry and DGCA, and law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) had advised the committee of creditors of the airline in the case.