No bidders yet for Jet Airways, staff consider bankruptcy proceedings

NEW DELHI (Reuters): Potential bidders for Jet Airways Ltd. have so far failed to show any firm interest in bailing out the struggling airline, a source involved in the matter said, increasing the likelihood that the company will face bankruptcy proceedings. 

Jet, once India’s largest private airline, was forced to stop all flight operations on 17 April after its lenders declined to extend more funds to keep the carrier going. 

“Companies that had submitted initial expressions of interest are not following up with binding bids,” said the source.  A second source involved in the process said bidders had until 10 May to come up with binding offers, a few days later than the 30 April date indicated by lead lender State Bank of India (SBI) last month. 

Both sources, speaking on Thursday, declined to be identified because the talks are not public.  Jet, saddled with roughly $ 1.2 billion of bank debt, and SBI did not respond to emails seeking comment. 

Earlier on Thursday, The Economic Times, citing sources, reported that three of the four qualified bidders – Etihad Airways, TPG Capital and Indigo Partners – had not signed the non-disclosure agreements necessary for conducting due diligence. 

The Indian civil aviation regulator has said that lessors have already requested the return of more than half of Jet’s fleet of about 115 aircraft, with the carrier voluntarily returning some of those. 

Jet’s shares closed down 12%, having earlier fallen more than 20% to their lowest in a decade. 

Employees of the company have said they have not been paid for months and plan to take the airline to India’s bankruptcy court (NCLT), a process allowed under Indian law.