Jet Airways looking at various sources to raise finances: CEO
21 Nov 2018
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Jet Airways on Tuesday said it is in active discussions with several investors, including Tata Sons, to secure sustainable financing to tide over the current stress that is holding back growth.
“We are in active discussions with various investors to secure sustainable financing to navigate through the current headwinds and create long-term growth. There is interest in our strong brand and confidence in business turnaround efforts,” Vinay Dube, chief executive officer, said in a newsletter to its stakeholders.
The explanation follows the buzz created by the Tata Group carrying out a due-diligence on Jet Airways.
Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, also clarified, "We would like to clarify that any such discussions have been preliminary and no proposal has been made."
Also, on Tuesday, promoters of Tata Group advised Tata Sons board to go slow on acquiring any stake in Jet Airways without knowing full details of the airline’s financial position.
Dube also said Jet Airways is in the process of reviewing its network and is deploying aircraft on more profitable, productive and economically efficient routes.
Tata Group, which already owns stakes in two airlines, on Friday informed that it is interested in buying a stake in the full-service carrier, but no proposal has been made so far.
Last week, Jet announced its Q2 results for FY 2019 with a net loss of Rs1,261 crore. “The tough operating environment for the aviation industry continues to impact us. However, the company’s efforts to reduce costs have been reflecting on their business, which has yielded over ?500 crore of savings in the first half of FY2019.” Dube added.
The Naresh Goyal-led airline announced that it has added 18 additional frequencies on domestic and international routes to meet growing demand from travellers along with new services to Singapore via its hubs in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.
The airline also announced plans to add increase frequencies on select destinations such as Bangkok, Kathmandu, Singapore, Doha, Dubai, in view of the growing demand.
“Jet Airways will take delivery of another six new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft this fiscal and will leverage the same for better cost efficiency,” Dube said.
