A ray of hope for Jet Airways. The Mumbai bench of NCLT has approved the resolution plan submitted by the Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan consortium subject to approvals.

The two-judge bench comprising Justices Janab Mohammed Ajmal and V. Nallasenapathy said: “Resolution plan approved, subject to certain approvals."

Jet Airways was grounded on April 17, 2019 over unpaid dues to the tune of ₹8,500 crore. The lead lender, State Bank of India had then dragged the airline to the insolvency court. On June 20, 2019, the case was admitted. It has been over two years since then.

The resolution professional, Ashish Chhawcharria had conducted at least four rounds to invite interest for the debt-strapped airline. However, neither of them had fructified into a resolution plan.

Mid-last year, the consortium of Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital submitted a firm resolution plan for the national carrier. On October 17, 2020, the creditors approved the plan and submitted the plan to the NCLT for approvals. It's been seven months since the NCLT has been reviewing the contours of the plan with a fine-tooth comb.

The consortium has been requesting for the erstwhile slots of Jet Airways. Landing slots are an important intangible asset for an airline, and it often costs a lot of money to grab a premium slot. Jet Airways had one of the most premium slots available at metro city airports in the country.

Post the temporary grounding of Jet in 2019, the slots were allotted to other airlines. The consortium was hellbent on getting the slots back, and had sought responses from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The consortium has also had multiple meetings with the MoCA and DGCA over the past several months regarding the same.

Regarding the slots, the judges said: “The matter of the slots will be up by the concerned authorities.”

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