Indian Oil Corporation resumes fuel services to Jet Airways

Indian Oil Corporation has resumed fuel services to Jet Airways, news agency ANI reported. 

The development came shortly after the public sector oil marketing firm stopped supplying fuel to the cash-starved carrier from 12 noon on Friday.

Jet Airways, in which SBI-led consortium of lenders is set to take management control under a debt-recast plan, has drastically curtailed operations with a fleet of 26 planes.

On March 25, Jet Airways board had approved a resolution plan formulated by SBI-led domestic lenders, under which had agreed to infuse an emergency funding of Rs 1,500 crore into the airline, and convert the same into equity worth 50.1 per cent for a notional value of just Re 1 each share.

The airline, however, has not yet received the much-needed funds. 

Meanwhile, another report states that lessors to Jet Airways are planning to ask the aviation regulator to de-register many more planes leased to the airline, three sources said, signalling a planned bailout of the debt-laden carrier is failing to assuage their concerns, news agency Reuters reported. 

About six lessors are expected to apply to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to de-register up to 15 planes that have already been grounded, over the next 10 days, one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

This is in addition to the five planes that MC Aviation Partners, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, applied on Friday to de-register, the source said.

Once de-registered, lessors can take the plane out of the country and lease them to other airlines.

While some lessors have already taken their planes out after a mutual agreement with Jet, sources say the latest applications to do so are on a non-consensual basis.

This deepens the crisis for Jet that has had to ground more than three-quarters of its fleet of 119 planes, many due to non-payment to lessors, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations.

(With inputs from Reuters)