Jet board okays lenders’ rescue plan

MUMBAI: The Board of the beleaguered airline Jet Airways on Thursday approved a Bank-led Provisional Resolution Plan (BLPRP) to relieve the financial strain on the passenger carrier.

“The BLPRP currently estimates a funding gap of ₹8,500 crore (including proposed repayment of aircraft debt of ₹1,700 crore) to be met by appropriate mix of equity infusion, debt restructuring, sale or sale and leaseback or refinancing of aircraft, among other things,” the company said in a regulatory filing to the BSE.

Accordingly, the board will now seek approval from the consortium of lenders, the overseeing committee of the Indian Bankers’ Association, the board of directors of Etihad Airways, and the promoter.

The airline said that imple- mentation of the final BLRP will take place under the guidance of a monitoring agency and after receiving shareholders’ and all other regulatory approvals.

The airline has called an extraordinary general meeting on February 21 to seek shareholders’ nod for a special resolution to consider and “to approve conversion of loan into shares or convertible instruments or other securities”.

The airline also reported a stand-alone net loss of ₹587.77 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.

The company had posted a stand-alone net profit of ₹165.25 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The carrier said revenue from operations during the quarter under review stood at ₹6,147.98 crore as against ₹6,086.20 crore in the year-ago period.