Debt-ravaged Jet Airways India, the country’s biggest full-service airline, is selling a majority stake for Rs 1 a little more than 1 US cent. It’s part of a bailout plan by its state- owned lenders that will give the airline time to arrange fresh equity. The complicated arrangement is on track to be voted through on February 21, in what would represent the rescue of one of the country’s most visible companies at a sensitive time, with general election just weeks away.
What is Jet Airways?
It’s consistently been one of India’s top three airlines in the past decade. Jet Airways was founded by ticketing agent-turned-entrepreneur Naresh Goyal after India ended a state monopoly on aviation in the early 1990s. It’s now 24 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways PJSC and controls 13.9 per cent of market, one of the fastest-growing in the world. Jet Airways also flies to international destinations including London and Singapore.
