The Jalan-Kalrock consortium that won a bid to take over and restart Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International) had been due to make a first tranche of payments to the airline’s former financing banks by next Monday, May 15, according to a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ruling in January. But it has just asked for more time, CNBC-TV18 reported after seeing a copy of the application.

The NCLAT judgement cleared the way for the consortium’s takeover of the airline, but while setting November 16, 2022, as the effective date of ownership it also gave the entity six months to settle its agreed payments to creditors. The banks declined to challenge the ruling further after the court refused their request to stay the judgement.

The consortium has now filed an application at the tribunal seeking the exclusion of the period between November 16 and April 13 from the six-month phase to repay creditors and implement the resolution plan. It argued that the banks only shared the account details of the airline on April 13, 148 days into the 180-day period. Without the bank account details, the consortium could not start to transfer the funds. This means it had just one month to implement the plan, which was neither feasible nor viable, it said.

It is not the first time the consortium has blamed the carrier’s financial creditors for delaying the relaunch. Previously, the court agreed to exclude the period between May 20 and November 16 of last year, giving it an additional 180 days. India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation had reissued an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) to Jet Airways on May 20, 2022.

The AOC expires on May 19, unless Jalan-Kalrock succeeds in making a case to the authority to extend it.

The consortium alleges that the banks have slowed the repayments by saying not all the conditions for the process had been met, but sources at the banks have denied these claims, underlining that ownership will be secured only after the first tranche is received.

The banks expect INR2.7 billion rupees (USD33 million) to be paid in the first tranche, which includes debts to the lenders themselves as well as to operational creditors and for the cost of Jet Airways’ corporate insolvency (CIRP). The consortium must also pay over INR2 billion (USD24 million) in employee wages and social security costs.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that no senior executives are left in the Jet Airways offices after CEO Sanjiv Kapoor quit last month.