Mumbai: Around five companies have shown an interest in picking up stakes in Jet Airways that have been put up for sale by lenders in order to put the airline back on its feet, two sources aware of the matter said. The airline has received expressions of interest (EoIs) from them. The news came as the Jet's lenders extended the deadline to submit an EoI by two more days, in the hope that Etihad Airways, which is not ready to budge from its previous stance of not wanting to invest in the airline further, could come around.
Jet expects more entities to come forward in the remaining time
"As part of the (bidding) process, we are in receipt of some EoIs and some more persons have expressed desire to participate if additional time is provided," said a spokesperson of SBI Capital Markets, which is overseeing the process. "Accordingly, in order to allow better participation in the process the domestic lenders have agreed to extend the timeline for submission of Expressions of Interest which have been updated and made available on the websites," the person added.
IOC suspended fuel supply to Jet for the 2nd time
Meanwhile, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) suspended fuel supply to the airline for a second time on Wednesday between 3 pm and 8:30 pm, forcing it to delay all flights till after 9 pm, sources said.