Insolvency proceedings have been initiated against Zexus Air Services P. Ltd., the company which operates the Zoom Air (India) (Delhi International) regional airline brand, according to a regulatory notice filed in India's National Company Law Tribunal in New Delhi.
According to the notice to creditors filed on March 26, 2022, by administrator Aashish Gupta, the Tribunal – a quasi-judicial authority that deals with the winding up of Indian companies – "ordered the commencement of a corporate insolvency resolution process against Zexus Air Services Private Limited on March 25, 2022".
Creditors are asked to submit their claims, with proof, on or before April 8, 2022.
The public announcement by the tribunal names one Captain Samuel Tarig Omer Ahmad as the applicant in the insolvency application. Hindu Business Line reported Ahmad is an expatriate pilot associated with the regional airline.
The estimated date of closure of the insolvency resolution process is set as September 21, 2022 – 180 days from the commencement date.
Zoom Air Chief Executive Officer Koustav Dhar did not respond to a request for comment.
Zexus Air Services P. Ltd. was incorporated in New Delhi on April 22, 2013, by Surender Kumar Kaushik. The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry issued it a No Objection Certificate in 2014. In September 2016, the airline took delivery of its first aircraft, a CRJ200ER. The airline received its Air Operator's Certificate on February 3, 2017, and began operations on February 15, 2017. As of March 2017, it flew to seven destinations in India using two CRJ200ERs.
In July 2018, India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended the airline's license citing safety concerns but renewed the license at the end of December 2018.
The carrier restarted in late October 2019, initially on the Delhi Int'l-Agra-Bikaner route, but subsequently suspended all flights in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It had planned to restart in December 2020 with four CRJ200ERs, but this never transpired.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, all four of Zoom Air's CRJ200ERs are currently stored in India (Amritsar and New Delhi). Two are leased from Magpie Aviation Leasing and two from Regional One.
