Suresh Prabhu: No govt interference in efforts to help Jet Airways

Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu. Pic/PTI

Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday ruled out any interference in efforts to help cash-strapped Jet Airways, saying that the government should not be seen to be doing any kind of deals to help an airline.

Against the backdrop of lenders set to take control of Jet Airways under a debt resolution plan, he said banks are direct stakeholders and are dealing with commercial matters of the airline where the ministry would not like to intervene.

Interacting with the media here, Prabhu said, "The ministry should not be dealing in any commercial transactions of any kind. Same thing I did for railways or for anywhere else. The issue is between banks and the management". He was responding to a query about the case of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines where banks apparently did not intervene.

Days after Jet Airways' board approved a debt resolution plan, wherein the lenders led by SBI would take control of the airline, embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya had lashed out at public sector banks for "double standards" under the current NDA regime for their intervention to bailout Jet Airways while the same lenders made his Kingfisher airlines "fail ruthlessly".

Jet operating 28 planes: Kharol

Cash-strapped Jet Airways is operating 28 planes, including 15 aircraft in the domestic routes, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Kharola said that less than 15 planes of the airline were flying. Jet Airways, where the lenders are set to take control as part of a debt resolution plan, on Tuesday disclosed that it has grounded 15 more aircraft due to non-payment of lease rentals. Asked about the active fleet of Jet Airways, Kharola, on the sidelines of an aviation conference in the morning, said, "yesterday, it was 28".