The possibility of Jet Airways’ revival is getting slimmer by the day with most of its employees now having quit the airline. This could potentially bring curtains down on the efforts of the Jalan Kalrock consortium that won the bid two years ago.
In the past week, senior employees such as the company secretary, accountable manager and chief security officer have quit the grounded airline. Jet’s head of flight operations, director of flight safety and director of training had resigned a few months ago.
“There is hardly anybody left in the airline. The funds never came and the team got worried and started to leave the company,” said a source. “The vice president of airport services and head of ground operations are still there, but everyone has lost hope,” the source added.
Sanjiv Kapoor, CEO-designate and Vipula Gunatilleka, chief financial officer, appointed by the Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) are still with the entity.
After the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ruled the case in favour of JKC, it was given 180 days to make payments of Rs 180 crore to the erstwhile creditors of the airline and Rs 250 crore to former employees. While May 14 is the last date to make the payments, the consortium has made no payments so far.
The January 13 order of the NCLT stated that JKC had fulfilled all the conditions precedent mentioned in the resolution plan, which paved the way for transfer of ownership of the airline from the lenders to the winning bidder.
“Even if JKC makes the payment, it will have to now apply afresh for the air operator’s certificate.
And in current circumstances it looks impossible that the airline will get the AOC renewed,” another source added.
Not only is there a requirement to apply for AOC renewal a minimum of 90 days before expiry, the inspection carried out by the inspectors of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has to be done prior to the renewal of the AOC.
“Renewal of AOC will require five aircraft to be inducted, which in the current state looks impossible for Jet Airways. You can obtain the AOC with one serviceable aircraft, but if you do it with a minimum of five aircraft then the AOC is for five years. Anything less than that then its one year,” the first source added.
The AOC, which essentially allows an airline to start commercial operations, has to be renewed before May 19, by Jet Airways 2.0. While Jet Airways got the AOC with the help of two aircraft in its fleet in May 2022, the company at present has only one aircraft in its fleet, a Boeing 737-800, as per the DGCA website. “Some companies have caught the opportunity and we are still fighting with the banks. This was a historical opportunity. Akasa got its AOC one month after Jet, but they are touching 20 aircraft. If could have easily been Jet instead of Akasa which is an airline that has former Jet employees,” said a former employee of Jet Airways 2.0.