Jet’s potential bidders may seek extra time to do due diligence

Lenders to Mumbai-based Jet Airways plan to request the court to extend a mid-March deadline for creditors to agree on a resolution plan or allow the carrier go into liquidation, said people familiar with the matter. Potential buyers of the airline are also seeking more time to prepare bids for the company.

Once India’s largest carrier by passengers, Jet Airways fall into bankruptcy last year is reflective of the country’s troubled aviation industry, where several players are struggling under piles of debt and cut-throat profit margins. While the bidding deadline for the company has been extended before, the airline could be forced into liquidation if there’s a further delay in bids by suitors and the mid-March date isn’t met, without court action.

Bolstering the case for a court-mandated extension is the entrant of an unidentified third shortlisted bidder to rival Synergy Group Corp.