Dubious and personal expenses of Rs 1,000 crore were made from bank-loan funds for Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and his family members even as the airline "diverted" money to some tax havens, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged on Saturday, after arresting the businessman in a money-laundering case. Goyal (74) was taken into custody late on Friday night after the central probe agency took him to its Mumbai office from Delhi. A special court set up to deal with cases lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Saturday sent him to the ED's custody for 10 days, till September 11.
Indigo has zero competition on 61.2 per cent of its 838 domestic routes.
In a dramatic turn of events in May 2019, an Emirates aircraft en-route to Dubai was asked to stop while it was taxiing for a take off in Mumbai. The pilot was given no reason and ordered to immediately return to the parking bay. As the aircraft returned to the terminal, two passengers from the first class - Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita - were offloaded by the immigration authorities, who said the duo cannot leave the country. Goyal, founder of Jet Airways, was stunned. The man, who ruled the aviation sector for two and a half decades with an iron hand, did not expect to be offloaded in this fashion.
A special court in Mumbai on Monday rejected Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal's applications seeking medical checkup by his personal doctor on regular basis and home-cooked food inside prison.
'Just look at China: They have five or six major airlines and some smaller ones.'
The creditors of the grounded carrier Jet Airways on Wednesday raised questions over the source of Rs 200 crore deposited by the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium before the insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT and said it does not align with the resolution plan. Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, representing lenders including SBI and other banks, told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that there are apprehensions about the source of funds, which deposited money for Jalan-Kalrock Consortium's (JKC). "The payment is not compliant with the resolution plan as it mandates that the money is to be paid through JKC," ASG submitted before a three-member NCLAT bench headed by chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan.
Jet Airways CEO-designate Sanjiv Kapoor on Monday said the new management does not want to be "in a rush" to restart operations while asserting that the airline will be unique and different. The ownership transfer of the airline under the insolvency resolution plan is facing hurdles over differences between the winning bidder and lenders. "We don't want to be in a rush," Kapoor said.
A resurgent SpiceJet is spreading its wings and Vistara is set to challenge Jet on long-haul routes in the coming years.
Navi Mumbai airport's construction is facing delays, and is likely to commence commercial operations in 2025 instead of 2024, aviation consultancy firm CAPA has said in a report. When asked about this matter, the Adani Group told Business Standard that the Navi Mumbai airport project is "being executed as per scheduled implementation plan and will be operational by the original target date of December, 2024, without any delay". Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL), responsible for both the construction and operation of the airport, is a subsidiary of the Adani Group.
Jet Airways has complained to India's aviation regulator about the use of its livery on SpiceJet aircraft, saying the practice could "mislead the public" and is a safety hazard. Jet collapsed in 2019 and lessors repossessed its Boeing 737s. Some of these aircraft were leased to SpiceJet, which operates them without changing the livery. Jet, which is now being revived by the Kalrock Jalan consortium and aims to restart operations in September, has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to ask SpiceJet to stop using its livery.
The flying licence of the two pilots was suspended and a probe launched into the accident.
Crisis-hit Go First has sought various interim directions from the National Company Law Tribunal, including restraining lessors from taking back aircraft and regulator DGCA from taking any adverse action against the airline. The Wadia group-owned airline, which has liabilities worth Rs 11,463 crore, has sought voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings and the plea is set to be heard by the Delhi bench of the NCLT on Thursday. Go First has cancelled all its flights for three days starting from May 3.
Jet Airways is looking to lease around 20 Airbus A320 aircraft from lessors by 2024 as it aims to restart operations and fly international routes in the next one-and-a-half years. Jet's A320 aircraft fleet, according to sources, will be a mix of the Ceo and the more fuel-efficient Neo variants. These planes were originally intended for Russian airlines but could not be delivered following western sanctions on Russia over its Ukraine invasion.
Jet Airways is in an advanced stage of talks with aircraft makers and lessors to lease planes and expects to restart operations in the coming weeks, according to executives at the airline. The once-storied carrier is now under the ownership of the Jalan-Kalrock consortium and its air operator certificate was revalidated by aviation regulator DGCA in May this year. The executives said the operations of Jet Airways will commence before the end of this year and the initial fleet plan is close to being finalised.
The Competition Commission on Thursday imposed Rs 1 crore fine on Abu Dhabi-based Etihad for non-disclosure of full information in the course of seeking approval for its purchase of 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways.
The airline notification to an exchange does not name the shareholder. It said the fund-raising would be subject to regulatory and corporate approvals.
Jet Airways, which is yet to resume operations under its new owner, will reduce salaries for various staff and send many employees on leave without pay, amid uncertainty over resumption of its operations. The measures, which will be effective from December 1, were revealed hours after the winning bidder Jalan-Kalrock Consortium (JKC) said it might take "difficult" near-term decisions to manage cashflows. The once-storied airline shuttered operations in April 2019 and JKC's resolution plan was approved under the insolvency process by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June last year.
Airports across the country witnessed chaotic scenes on Friday after dozens of flights were either delayed or cancelled after a widespread global computer outage that also hit operations like cash withdrawal at some banks, and impacted functioning of some brokerages. Globally, the Microsoft cloud outage led to US airlines cancelling flights, but the tech giant later reportedly said its cloud services outage in the Central US region has been resolved.
If that happens, Jet Airways will be the first bankrupt airline which will be revived under the Insolvency process.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday dismissed the petition filed by an employee association of debt-ridden Jet Airways, challenging the sale of two floors of office space in Mumbai's business district of Bandra Kurla during the insolvency process of the grounded carrier. Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association (JAMEWA had challenged the orders passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on June 11, 2021, allowing the sale of the office space for Rs 490 crore. The association had contended that the sale of BKC property, was not permissible under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as a moratorium was declared over the assets of the company after an order dated June 20, 2019.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday approved the transfer of ownership of bankrupt-Jet Airways to the Jalan Kalrock consortium and gave the winning bidder more time to pay the dues to the creditors. The latest rulings have come on two petitions filed by the consortium. One plea pertained to approval of transfer of ownership and the second one related to extension of time for the payment of dues to the creditors. Earlier, the tribunal had given time till November 16, 2022 for the consortium to make the payments to the creditors of the airline.
Jet Airways' cabin crew and ground staff have challenged the Jalan Kalrock consortium's resolution plan, which was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June, flagging concerns about pending salaries and retirement benefits. In their petition filed before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the Jet Airways Cabin Crew Association and Bhartiya Kamgar Sena have submitted that dues of all workmen of the airline were not included as part of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) cost. In June, NCLT approved Jalan Kalrock Consortium's resolution plan for Jet Airways, which remains grounded for more than two years now.
Public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) has moved the Insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT against the approval of bids for defunct airline Jet Airways. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench has issued a notice over the PNB's petition along with its interim plea seeking a stay over the execution of the resolution plan. A three-member bench has directed the Resolution Professional of Jet Airways along with other parties including the Committee of Creditors to file a reply within two weeks and rejoinder, if by PNB, within one week.
Jet Airways will restart domestic operations by the first quarter of 2022 and short haul international flights by the last quarter of the next year, Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the winning bidder for the grounded airline, stated on Monday. The first flight of Jet Airways would be on Delhi-Mumbai route, it mentioned, adding that the airline would now be headquartered in Delhi instead of Mumbai. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June this year had approved the Jalan Kalrock Consortium's resolution plan for Jet Airways, two years after the once-storied full-service carrier went into insolvency proceedings.
For the first time in 13 years, since Jet Airways' A330 planes exited the airline's fleet in around 2010, an Indian wide-body aircraft will have a Rolls-Royce-powered engine, with Air India ordering 40 Airbus A350 planes. On Tuesday, Air India announced its mega aircraft order for 470 aircraft, including A350 planes. The A350 aircraft, which will come in two variants, are powered solely by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and the local team has begun work to assist Air India with its aircraft-induction plans.
Sources said the process has taken time because of a delay in leasing of aircraft. As per the original plan the aircraft were to be leased through GIFT City, Gujarat, but this is proving costlier than doing it offshore.
No-frills carrier Go First filing for insolvency proceedings and cancelling flights is bad for the airline industry as the move will reduce capacity and could push airfares in certain routes, travel agents' grouping TAAI said on Wednesday.
'I hope they all survive, but it is a tough world.' 'The carriers who are already established are already struggling.'
Some aircraft technicians at IndiGo are on sick leave since Friday demanding a revision in salaries. The protest comes days after the airline partially restored salaries of its pilots and cabin crew and made changes to its human resource (HR) policies. Some technicians in Hyderabad reported sick on Friday night while those from other bases skipped work on Sunday demanding a revision in salary, an industry source said.
The All India Jet Airways Technicians Association cautioned that in case the allocation is not stopped, it would be forced to resort to legal means for a resolution.
Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the winning bidder for the grounded Jet Airways, will make a total cash infusion of Rs 1,375 crore in the airline and lenders will take a steep haircut on their admitted claims of over Rs 7,800 crore under the approved resolution plan. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on June 22, approved the consortium's resolution plan for Jet Airways, which has been undergoing insolvency resolution process since June 2019. The carrier shuttered operations in April 2019.
In the season of aviation action, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air has secured the crucial no-objection certificate (NoC) from the civil aviation ministry. It expects to start operations next summer. The airline will now have to apply for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for operations permit. Aviation sector has been in the limelight with the Tata Group winning the Air India bid last week.
omestic passengers flown by Indian carriers declined marginally in the first four months of this year compared to last year, even during peak season operations.
Tata group-owned Air India plans to hire expat pilots for its Boeing 777 planes as the airline is facing a shortage of pilots amid plans to expand its fleet as well as international operations, according to sources. The carrier is looking to rope in around 100 pilots for the wide-body Boeing 777 fleet and has approached various agencies that provide expat flight crew to airlines, the sources told PTI. The loss-making Air India, which was under government ownership for nearly seven decades till the Tata group took over in January 2022, had stopped hiring expat pilots many years ago to save costs.
If all goes well, then every single employee of Jet Airways will become an owner of the airline.
The Indian aviation sector is on the cusp of a change as airlines look to induct a record number of aircraft. This, analysts said, will put the sector on a growth runway, though keeping it viable for only long-term investors. According to Vinit Bolinjkar, head of research at Ventura Securities, expectations of strong air traffic, coupled with low penetration, is the prime reason for a solid long-term outlook.
IndiGo is facing acute shortage of commanders amid aggressive expansion of its fleet. The carrier has more than 210 planes in its fleet.
While the SBI-led lenders' consortium is still working on ways to revive the once-storied Jet Airways, the civil aviation ministry has already awarded the carrier's slots at various airports to other airlines on a temporary basis.
The cash-strapped airline, which was grounded in April 2019, owes more than Rs 8,000 crore to banks, with those from the public sector having significant exposure.
The probe agency has found that the company's vast network of sales agents across the globe was not independent of Jet Airways and several of these entities were linked to its founder, Naresh Goyal.
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