Jet Airways to Resume Operations

Jet Airways will take to the skies once again, after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted it a revalidated Air Operator Certificate (AOC) on May 22, 2022, allowing the airline to resume commercial flight operations. The DGCA said that the AOC had been granted to the airline which saw turbulent times before being grounded three years ago due to financial distress. The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium is currently the promoter of Jet Airways. The airline intends to restart commercial flight operations in the July-September quarter this year. With DGCA officials on board, the airline had successfully operated five proving flights on May 15 and 17. Proving flights are the last step before an airline can obtain an AOC. In a statement, Jet Airways said that with the receipt of the AOC, the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium has fulfilled all the conditions under the resolution plan approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Murari Lal Jalan, the Lead Member of Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, said, “Today marks a new dawn for not just Jet Airways, but also for the Indian aviation industry.” “We are committed to making this an extraordinary success story in Indian aviation,” he added. Financial distress forced Jet Airways, which flew for more than two decades, to suspend operations on April 17, 2019, and a consortium of lenders, led by State Bank of India, filed an insolvency petition in June 2019 to recover outstanding dues worth over 8,000 crore. In October 2020, the airline’s Committee of Creditors approved the resolution plan submitted by the consortium of the UK’s Kalrock Capital and the UAE-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan. In June 2021, the resolution plan was approved by the NCLT.