Lenders to Jet Airways are expecting at least 5-6 investors to submit formal bids on Wednesday, the last day for expression of interest to acquire a majority stake in the debt-laden Indian airline.

The bidding process began on Monday but so far no formal application has been made by any investor.

“Lenders are getting calls from a number of interested players that are seeking clarification on the bid conditions. Going by these calls, they are hoping to get at least 5-6 interested players on Wednesday,” said a source close to the process.

While the lenders have not officially disclosed the names of the interested players, sources said that Jet Airways’ current joint venture investor Etihad Airways has confirmed its interest in bidding for the beleaguered airline.

Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, TPG Capital, NIIF and KKR are the other players who may be interested.

Another source said that former Jet Airways CEO Cramer Ball, who has been in Mumbai since Monday, met the former State Bank of India chief AK Purwar over lunch to discuss the EoI on behalf of the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad. Purwar was named on the interim management committee, on behalf of SBI, a fortnight ago.

One of the persons cited above said: “Once Etihad places the bid, and SBI is confident, the latter will infuse funds in the company for the airline to stay afloat till May 31.” SBI was to infuse ₹1,500 crore as interim funding, but has reduced this to ₹200 crore due to the uncertainty.

Pilots send notice

Meanwhile, the airline’s pilots have sent a legal notice to the company management seeking immediate payment of salaries. The pilots, through their union, National Aviators Guild, have set April 14 as the deadline to clear all past dues.

This comes even as an entity set up by Etihad to finance its global affiliates has said that Jet Airways has failed to pay the interest due on loans extended to it.

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