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Debt-strapped Jet Airways on Thursday said it was not in a position to consider and approve the audited financial result for the year ended March 31 due to the ongoing debt resolution process undertaken by its lenders.
The airline temporarily shut operations on April 17 due to an acute cash crunch. Since then, most of the top leadership has quit the company. A number of directors have also quit in the past two months.
“This is to inform that, in view of the ongoing bidding process undertaken by the domestic lenders for change in management of the company, coupled with resignation by members of the board of directors, its key managerial personnel and other employees across functions, the company is not in position to consider and approve the audited financial result for the year ended March 31, 2019,” the airline said in a stock exchange filing.
In February, the airline had reported a standalone net loss of ₹587.77 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. The company had posted a standalone net profit of ₹165.25 crore in the same quarter in the previous fiscal. The carrier had said that revenue from operations during the quarter under review stood at ₹6,147.98 crore against ₹6,086.20 crore in the year-ago period.
On March 25, Naresh Goyal, the promoter and company chairman, stepped down from his post; his wife Anita quit the board. Goyal, who founded the airline 25 years ago, held 51 per cent stake in the airline.
Top-level exodus
Top executives of Jet Airways, including its Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube, CFO Amit Agarwal, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer Kuldeep Sharma, and Chief People Officer Rajhul Taneja have quit the company, citing personal reasons.
At its peak, the airline had 22,000 employees, including 6,000 contract employees. According to company sources, now it has only 11,500 permanent and 1,500 contract workers. The airline had also terminated 50 employees from its international hubs.
The full-service carrier has debts from financial and operational creditors of about ₹14,000 crore. State Bank of India, the lead lender to Jet Airways, is in the process of choosing financial investors to revive the airline. An estimated ₹8,000 crore will be needed to resurrect the airline.
Etihad, a joint venture partner with a minority stake of 24 per cent in the airline, was the only bidder to revive the airline but had said that it cannot be expected to be the sole investor, and that the bulk of the recapitalisation requirements will have to depend on other investors.
Read more on the Jet Airways crisis
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