Jet Airways saga: 10 key things to know about the fall of India’s biggest private airline

Embattled airline Jet Airways halted all domestic and international operations indefinitely from April 17 after the consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India refused to provide the much-needed emergency funding of Rs 400 crore.

Here’s a quick wrap of important developments at Jet Airways.

— Jet Airways, founded by Naresh Goyal in 1992, has a debt of over Rs 8,000 crore. With most of its fleet grounded by lessors on account of unpaid dues, the company has been struggling to stay afloat for nearly a year now. On April 17, it finally gave in to the financial stress and halted all operations.

— Lenders hope for the success of Jet’s stake sale process that has attracted four eligible bidders —TPG Capital, Indigo Partners, Etihad Airways and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). Shortlisted bidders will have to offer bids by May 10.

—Jet Airways is even facing the possibility of being taken to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for the bankruptcy process if none of the bids turns out to be feasible.

— The stock of jet airways registered its steepest fall since listing as it nosedived more than 28 percent intraday on April 18. The beleaguered airline's stock has remained resilient for the past six months despite all the negative news revolving around its operations.

—With the airline flying into the dark, the future of the employees of the airline becomes uncertain. The airline has over 16,000 employees on payroll and about 6,500 employees on contract.

— Pilots of Jet Airways were not paid salaries from January onwards. Engineers and senior management were also not paid for three months. The ground handling and cabin crew did not get their March salary: Jet Airways' Officers & Staff Association

—JetPrivilege, Jet Airways' frequent flyer programme, issued a statement on April 17, saying the value of its members' JPMiles are "secure and remain intact". Jet Airways' announcement led to panic and uncertainty among its customers.

—Jet Airways' Officers & Staff Association, in a press conference, questioned why the airline has not paid salaries before suspending operations. According to him, this "crisis is a corporate war" and the "government needs to think about the repercussion of the crisis" at the carrier.

—Around 22,000 other staff and workers related to the vendors, such as caterers, hotels, logistics companies of Jet Airways, are also impacted.

—Sources say several ground staff and pilots are being actively poached by budget carriers over the last 4-8 weeks. Ever since a shutdown of Jet Airways became inevitable, rival companies have started talks with senior employees to hand them job offers. Jet Airways had about 1,400 pilots. Of them, 350-400 have already left and joined rival companies.