Shares of Jet Airways were locked in a 5 per cent upper circuit at ₹ 75.60 on the BSE a day after its new owners announced a revival plan for the ailing airline, which halted operations in April last year due to bankruptcy amid piles of debt. A consortium, led by the Dubai-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan and London-based Kalrock Capital in a statement said, “The Jet 2.0 program is aimed at reviving the past glory of Jet Airways, with a fresh set of processes and systems to ensure greater efficiency and productivity across all routes.”
Once the country’s largest airline by market capitalisation, Jet Airways plans to operate all its historic domestic slots in the country and also resume international operations once it receives approvals from the regulators and National Company Law Tribunal, the country’s bankruptcy court.
“If everything goes as per plan and the consortium receives the NCLT and regulatory approvals on time, Jet Airways would be back in the skies by the summer of 2021,” the group said.
The revival plan comes at a time when many of the world’s airlines are struggling to recover from a COVID-19-caused slowdown, which sent the aviation market into a tailspin, forcing many airlines to shut operations.
The airline’s creditors have already approved the revival plan, which was submitted by the consortium in October. Jet Airways has almost 21,000 creditors seeking claims of ₹ 44,000 crore, and has had most of its landing slots confiscated.
Shares of Jet Airways have surged over 5 times from lows of ₹ 15 hit in March this year.
As of 12:17 pm, Jet Airways shares were up 5 per cent and there were over 4.84 lakh pending buy orders on the BSE.