The creditors of the Indian airline Jet Airways, have reported this Tuesday the beginning of the bankruptcy procedure of the company that has not operated for two months because it cannot refinance its debt. Immediately, its shares plummeted on the Bombay Stock Exchange by 47.5% (see: Jet Airways announces the cease of operations due to lack of financing).
The consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI), with which it has a debt amounting to more than 80,000 million rupees (€ 1,026 million), warned in a note on Monday that it has submitted a statement of Jet Airways insolvency.
“Lenders have decided to seek a solution under the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016), since, only a conditional offer had been received,” the SBI said in the statement.
What was one of the oldest and most important airlines in India suspended flights on April 17, when the consortium of lenders refused to accept its request for financing. Suffocated by a lack of liquidity and growing debts with its suppliers, Jet Airways was waiting for immediate help to restore normal operations.
With all their flights paralyzed, thousands of employees have been left in a work limbo, not knowing when they will receive their back wages, in many cases for months, which has sparked protests in recent weeks.
Last March, the airline decided to dismiss its president and founder, Naresh Goyal, as a member of the Board of Directors, within a rescue plan adopted by the company and formulated by a consortium of lenders for the restructuring of its debts that finally did not occur.
