Cash-strapped Jet Airways on Monday took major steps towards closing a rescue deal with its lenders, with chairman Naresh Goyal and his wife stepping down from the airline's board. Laden with debt of more than $1 billion and faced with an evaporating market value, Jet is banking on a bailout by its lenders as it became unable to pay banks, suppliers, pilots and lessors - several of whom have started terminating leases with the carrier. The banks, led by State Bank of India (SBI), will take a controlling stake in the airline, pump in Rs 1,500 crore ($217.65 million) in immediate funding, and form an interim management committee to manage the airline. (Also read: "No sacrifice too big for me to safeguard interest of Jet Airways," says Naresh Goyal)
Here are some major developments in Jet Airways' story:
August 3 - Jet Airways denies report that it cannot fly beyond 60 days, and dismisses conjecture of stake sale
August 9 - Airline defers board meet for first-quarter results
August 11 - After State Bank of India (SBI) chairman says Jet Airways' loan is on the bank's watch list, the airline says it is regular in payment obligations to all banks
August 27 - Jet Airways posts loss for the June-quarter, says it will inject funds and cut costs by more than Rs 2,000 crore in two years
September 6 - Jet Airways says it paid salaries to 84 per cent of its employees after reports emerge that pilots warned 'non-cooperation' over salary default
October 4 - Rating agency ICRA downgrades the company's long-term loans and NCDs
October 18 - Report says conglomerate Tata Group is in talks to buy stake in Jet Airways. The airline calls report "speculative"
November 5 - Report says Tata aims to buy the 51 per cent stake in the airline owned by Naresh Goyal, and Etihad Airways' 24 per cent stake, and merge Jet Airways with Vistara
November 12 - Jet Airways posts third straight quarterly loss
November 16 - Tata Sons says discussions on Jet Airways are preliminary and no proposal has been made
December 3 - Jet Airways says it will stop providing free meals to most domestic economy class passengers from January
December 5 - Jet Airways and Etihad Airways have been holding rescue talks with Jet's bankers, sources tell news agency Reuters
December 6 - Jet Airways tells its pilot union it will clear all salary dues by April, a source tells Reuters
December 14 - Naresh Goyal's penchant for control has come up as a major obstacle as the airline tries to negotiate a rescue deal, several people who have worked closely with him or known him over the years tell Reuters
January 2, 2019 - The airline says it has delayed payment to a consortium of Indian banks, led by SBI
January 10 - Jet Airways proposes to creditors that it will catch up with debt payments in arrears by September, and from April will meet debt payments as they come due, according to a document seen by Reuters
January 11 - Some aircraft lessors were prompted to explore taking back aircraft from Jet Airways, people familiar with the matter tell Reuters. Etihad is not "in any position to sink new equity into Jet at this juncture," says a person familiar with Etihad's position.
January 14 - Report states Naresh Goyal is likely to step down from the board and give up majority control
January 16 - TV channel reports that Etihad offered to buy Jet Airways shares at a 49 per cent discount and immediately release $35 million.
January 17 - Top creditor SBI says Jet Airways' lenders are considering a plan to resolve its debt issues, amid further reports that Naresh Goyal is willing to invest Rs 700 crore in the airline and pledge all his shares but wants to retain a 25 per cent stake.
January 24 - Capital markets regulator Sebi says it has no "view" on relaxing norms for a Jet Airways bailout
January 30 - Jet Airways denies its aircraft had been grounded by GE Capital Aviation Services
February 8 - Airline grounds four aircraft after failing to make payments to lessors
February 14 - Jet Airways' board approves a rescue deal which will make its lenders its largest shareholders and fix a near Rs 8,500 crore funding gap
February 21 - International lessors have grounded more Jet Airways planes prior to potentially moving them out of India, as scepticism builds whether a state-led bailout of the carrier can clear their dues on time, sources tell Reuters
February 23 - Jet Airways shareholders approve debt-for-equity swap
February 25 - SBI says reports of taking Jet Airways to an insolvency tribunal to recover loans are "speculative"
February 27 - Jet Airways grounds 7 more planes as it fails to pay lessors, taking tally of planes hamstrung by the defaults to 13
February 28 - Naresh Goyal has agreed to step down as chairman, source tells Reuters.
March 8 - Jet Airways' planes to be redeployed elsewhere if the airline cannot gain approvals for a restructuring plan this month, says lessor
March 11 - Air safety regulator orders new checks on Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes after an Ethopian Airlines flight crash kills 157 people on board. Jet operates five 737 MAX 8 planes.
March 13 - India bans Boeing 737 MAX planes from its airspace
March 15 - Jet Airways pilots seek government help to recover pending salaries and dues from the airline
-- Some lessors of Jet have begun terminating lease deals over unpaid dues and are preparing to move the leased planes abroad, five sources tell Reuters
March 18 - Naresh Goyal tells the airline's pilots he needs "a further short time" to finalise a rescue deal for the carrier as the process is complex
March 19 - The government asks state-run banks to rescue Jet without pushing it into bankruptcy, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to avert thousands of job losses weeks before a general election, two people within the administration tell Reuters
-- Regulator says Jet is now operating only 41 aircraft, and that could reduce further
March 20 - SpiceJet is in talks with lessors to lease some of Jet's grounded aircraft, a source tells Reuters
-- SBI says bankruptcy is the "last option" for Jet, and that it might still be possible to draft in a new investor to keep the airline flying
March 25 - Naresh Goyal steps down as chairman while his wife Anita Goyal resigns from the board of directors. Lenders to pump in Rs 1,500 crore in immediate funding.
($1 = Rs 68.9160)
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