Jet Airways' lenders 'reasonably hopeful' of successful bidding process
Lenders to cash-strapped Jet Airways on Thursday said that they are "reasonably hopeful" that the grounded airline's bidding process will end successfully. Earlier on Wednesday evening, Jet Airways, which was once the largest private airlines in the country, stopped all of its flight operations indefinitely after State Bank of India-led lenders declined to extend any more funds to keep it running. Here's more.
Jet Airways has roughly $1.2bn bank debt
Jet Airways, which is burdened with roughly $1.2 billion bank debt, has been struggling for a few weeks now after failing to get a stop-gap loan of around $217 million from its lenders. It was part of a "rescue deal" agreed in late March.
Hopeful that bid process is likely to be successful: Lenders
"Lenders after due deliberations decided...the best way forward for the survival of Jet Airways is to get the binding bids from potential investors who have expressed EOI and have been issued bid documents on 16th April," lenders said. "Lenders are reasonably hopeful that the bid process is likely to be successful in determining fair value of the enterprise in a transparent manner," they added.
Jet Airways used to operate 120 planes at its peak
Jet Airways, at its peak, used to operate 120 aircraft and over 600 flights every day. The troubled airline that has about 16,000 employees has been forced to cancel hundreds of hundreds of flights and halt all flights out of India due to cash crunch.
