India's specialist bankruptcy court, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), has appointed a liquidator to Jet Airways (Mumbai International), with its Mumbai bench giving Satish Kumar Gupta the role during a November 26 hearing. Gupta is a senior partner at Jaipur-based Gupta Garg & Company.
The order said Gupta should "endeavour to sell the company as a going concern during the liquidation." The NCLT's order followed a November 7 Supreme Court decision to wind up Jet Airways. The carrier ceased operations in 2019, and a subsequent resolution plan involving selling the airline to the Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) went awry and became mired in litigation. The UK's Florian Fritsch chaired Kalrock Capital, and UAE-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan made up the consortium.
The Supreme Court was hearing a last-ditch appeal by primary creditor the State Bank of India, which sought to set aside a recent National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) decision that tinkered with the terms of the original resolution plan. However, the Supreme Court said the NCALT decision was "perverse and unsustainable in law. It has led to further complications."
"Almost five years have elapsed since the resolution plan was duly approved by the NCLAT, and there being no progress worth the name, we are left with no other option but to invoke our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution and direct that the corporate debtor be taken in liquidation," the Supreme Court ruling read before referring the matter back to the NCLT with the order that it appoint a liquidator.
In its heyday, Jet Airways was one of the largest airlines in India, commanding a 21.2% passenger market share by early 2016. At the time, it was operating over 300 flights daily to 74 destinations. However, competition by low-cost carriers such as SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International) and IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International) began eroding its market share and financial performance. By 2019, it had accrued substantial debts, and by April that year, it had run out of cash and was unable to pay fuel bills and other immediate expenses, and flights ended. Jet Airways was, by that point, down to just five ATR72-500s flying regional routes from Delhi International.
