Govtkeepsmum on granting Jet its old slot pairs
Tells NCLT it will favourably consider fresh application for slots
The central government told the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday that Jet Airways will have to reapply for slots after the resolution plan gets approved by the insolvency tribunal, while refusing to commit on whether the airline will get back its old slot pairs.
However, Shyam Mehta, counsel representing the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said the government will favourably consider an application by the new owners for slots.
Airport slot pairs are timings granted by an airport or designated civil aviation authority for scheduled landing and departure of a flight.
Counsel representing the winning consortium of Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan (Kalrock-jalan) said the government should consider the principle of historicity while granting Jet Airways slots, meaning it should get back the slots it held earlier.
The NCLT Bench directed both DGCA and the civil aviation ministry to file their
affidavits on this and recorded their statements that they have no objection to the resolution plan of the Kalrock-jalan consortium. The matter will be heard next on March 9.
Availability of slots is a key to restarting the airline, which faced bankruptcy and was grounded over two years ago. When it shut operations, Jet Airways had about 700 such slot pairs, including 116 and 214 in Delhi and Mumbai airports, respectively.
The airline last flew on April 17, 2019, and underwent an ownership change through a successful resolution process under the insolvency and bankruptcy law.
Lenders approved a ~1,000-crore bid by the consortium to revive and operate the airline.
In a recent interview with Business Standard, Jalan said he doesn’t foresee any challenge with respect to availability of slots. “Covid has made things better for us. The capacity of most of the constrained airports have improved and in our discussions with the civil aviation ministry, they have told us that whatever we need, we will get it,” he said.