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Shares of Jet Airways hit the upper circuit in the early trade on Wednesday after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday gave its nod to the Jalan Kalrock Consortium’s bid for the airline and the resolution professional is hopeful that the carrier will be back in the skies by the end of this year.

The scrip rallied 4.98% to Rs 104.40, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was up 56.21 points, or 0.11%, at 52,644.92 at around 9.40 am (IST).

While the detailed written order is awaited, PTI said adding the tribunal made it clear that it will not give any direction on the issue of airport slots for the airline, saying that the matter will be handled by the government or the appropriate authority concerned.

Financial distress forced Jet Airways, which flew for more than two decades, to suspend operations on April 17, 2019 and a consortium of lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), filed an insolvency petition in June 2019, to recover outstanding dues worth over Rs 8,000 crore.

In an oral order, an NCLT Mumbai bench chaired by Mohammed Ajmal and V Nallasenapathy, approved the resolution plan for Jet Airways that will have to be implemented in 90 days starting from June 22.

It also said that if further extension of the effective date is required, the resolution applicant (Jalan Kalrock Consortium) can approach the tribunal again.

In October 2020, the airline’s Committee of Creditors (CoC) approved the resolution plan submitted by the consortium of the UK’s Kalrock Capital and the UAE-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan.

Jet Airways has been undergoing a resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) for two years.

Ashish Chhawchharia, who has been managing the affairs of Jet Airways as the resolution professional, described the NCLT nod as one of the biggest turnaround events for the beleaguered aviation sector and hoped that the airline will be back in the skies by the end of this year provided everything goes well.

Shares of the airline have lost more than half of their value since it suspended operations in April 2019.

Jalan Kalrock Consortium said it will decide on the next step after receiving the NCLT’s written order.

The consortium said the journey until now has been “extremely challenging yet satisfying” and that it wants to work alongside the civil aviation ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and all its competitors to put Jet Airways back in the skies.

(With inputs from PTI)