MUMBAI: The board of stricken Indian airline Jet Airways could suspend all operations Tuesday after lenders refused to release emergency funds to keep the debt-laden carrier flying, media reports said.
An emergency board meeting was called for Tuesday after the latest blow to the beleaguered company.
Thousands of passengers have been stranded in recent weeks after the airline, which has debts of more than $1 billion, canceled international flights because it cannot pay its bills.
Chief Executive Vinay Dube called the board meeting after lenders led by the State Bank of India failed on Monday to agree to give needed emergency cash.
“The management will seek guidance from the board on the next steps forward,” Dube said in an email to staff late Monday as he announced that the cancelation of international flights was being extended to Thursday.
Indian dailies said suspending all operations was one option open to the board though this could mean Jet would lose its operating license.
Business Standard quoted sources saying the airline had only enough fuel to keep its seven remaining jets running until Tuesday afternoon.
An official from the National Aviation Guild, the union for Jet pilots, said: “The airline is flying seven planes right now. The minimum number to keep its scheduled operations license.”
Jet has been in a tailspin for months. Its fleet has been cut from about 120 in December. It has defaulted on loans and most staff have not been paid for many months.
A consortium of lenders took control of Jet last month, pledging to give $218 million of “immediate funding support” as part of a debt resolution plan.
The lenders met for several hours on Monday but failed to agree on how to proceed.
Later the State Bank of India released a statement saying that the banks were trying to help Jet.
“Cooperation by and support from all the other stakeholders will be the key to the success of the process,” it added.
The SBI-led consortium is trying to find a buyer for Jet, which was until recently India’s second-biggest airline by market share.
A deadline passed Friday for prospective bidders to express an interest in acquiring a 75 percent stake in the carrier.
Etihad Airways, which owns a 24 percent stake, has reportedly submitted an expression of interest to buy a controlling stake.
The SBI was expected to announce a shortlist of prospective bidders later on Tuesday. They would then have until April 30 to submit formal bids.
A collapse of Jet would deal a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-business reputation as he seeks a second term in ongoing national elections.
India’s Jet Airways holds crisis meeting after lenders reject fund injection
India’s Jet Airways holds crisis meeting after lenders reject fund injection
- Thousands of passengers have been stranded in recent weeks after the airline canceled international flights because it cannot pay its bills
- Lenders met for several hours on Monday but failed to agree on how to proceed
‘The future is renewables,’ Indian energy minister tells World Economic Forum
- ‘In India, I can very confidently say, affordability (of renewables) is better than fossil fuel energy,’ says Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi during panel discussion
- Renewables are an increasingly important part of the energy mix and the technology is evolving rapidly, another expert says at session titled ‘Unstoppable March of Renewables?’
BEIRUT: “The future is renewables,” India’s minister of new and renewable energy told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
“In India, I can very confidently say, affordability (of renewables) is better than fossil fuel energy,” Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi said during a panel discussion titled “Unstoppable March of Renewables?”
The cost of solar power has has fallen steeply in recent years compared with fossil fuels, Joshi said, adding: “The unstoppable march of renewables is perfectly right, and the future is renewables.”
Indian authorities have launched a major initiative to install rooftop solar panels on 10 million homes, he said. As a result, people are not only saving money on their electricity bills, “they are also selling (electricity) and earning money.”
He said that this represents a “success story” in India in terms of affordability and “that is what we planned.”
He acknowledged that more work needs to be done to improve reliability and consistency of supplies, and plans were being made to address this, including improved storage.
The other panelists in the discussion, which was moderated by Godfrey Mutizwa, the chief editor of CNBC Africa, included Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of electricity company ENGIE Group; and Pan Jian, co-chair of lithium-ion battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology.
Asked by the moderator whether she believes “renewables are unstoppable,” MacGregor said: “Yes. I think some of the numbers that we are now facing are just proof points in terms of their magnitude.
“In 2024, I think it was 600 gigawatts that were installed across the globe … in Europe, close to 50 percent of the energy was produced from renewables in 2024. That has tripled since 2004.”
Renewables are an increasingly important and prominent part of the energy mix, she added, and the technology is evolving rapidly.
“It’s not small projects; it’s the magnitude of projects that strikes me the most, the scale-up that we are able to deliver,” MacGregor said.
“We are just starting construction in the UAE, for example. In terms of solar size it’s 1.5 gigawatts, just pure solar technology. So when I see in the Middle East a round-the-clock project with just solar and battery, it’s coming within reach.
“The technology advance, the cost, the competitiveness, the size, the R&D, the technology behind it and the pace is very impressive, which makes me, indeed, really say (renewables) is real. It plays a key role in, obviously, the energy demand that we see growing in most of the countries.
“You know, we talk a lot about energy transition, but for a lot of regions now it is more about energy additions. And renewables are indeed the fastest to come to market, and also in terms of scale are really impressive.”
Mutizwa asked Pan: “Are we there yet, in terms of beginning to declare mission accomplished? Are renewables here to stay?”
“I think we are on the road but (its is) very promising,” Pan replied. There is “great potential for future growth,” he added, and “the technology is ready, despite the fact that there are still a lot of challenges to overcome … it is all engineering questions. And from our perspective, we have been putting in a lot of resources and we are confident all these engineering challenges will be tackled along the way.”
Responding to the same question, Arcelli said: “Yes, I think we are beyond there on power, but on other sectors we are way behind … I would argue today that the technology you install by default is renewables.
“Is it a universal truth nowadays that renewables are the cheapest?” asked Mutizwa.
“It’s the cheapest everywhere,” Arcelli said.
