Sky is no more an option for Jet Airways, which announced temporary shutdown of its operations tonight over its failure to garner immediate funds from lenders.
As per the official communication from Jet, this decision has been taken after a painstaking evaluation of all alternatives that were made available to the Company and after receiving guidance and advice on the same from its Board of Directors. Jet Airways has informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and the Ministries of Civil Aviation and Finance and other relevant government institutions, of this course of action.
Over the last several weeks and months, the company tried to seek both interim and long-term funding, however nothing materialised. As a result, the airline has been left with no other choice but to go ahead with a temporary suspension of flight operations. While Jet had been running a bare minimum number of 35-40 flights for the last few days, a total grounding will significantly affect its value for potential investors that are undergoing a bidding process.
Jet Airways will now await the bid finalisation process by SBI and the consortium of Indian Lenders. The bid process will conclude on 10th May 2019.