White knight, red ink

The long, hard battle to save Jet Airways

Episode 567 (or thereabouts) of one of India’s great airline dramas is underway and observers are desperate to know whether Jet Airways will survive.

The once market-leading carrier, mired in more than US$1 billion in debt, just can’t seem to find a solution to its woes. If the situation is bad, it is showing all the signs of deteriorating even further. Months of attempts by the State Bank of India, shareholder Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi and its founder Naresh Goyal, have repeatedly hit a brick wall and potential solutions are falling by the wayside.