India’s second largest airline, Jet Airways plans to sell six Boeing 777 planes, to clear off most of its aircraft related debt, said the chief financial officer Amit Agarwal at a post-earnings call on Tuesday.
Jet Airways had a net debt of ₹8,052 crore at the end of third quarter ended 30 September 2018, increased slightly from ₹7,364 crore on June-end. While 60% of the airline’s debt is dollar denominated, its aircraft debt stands at ₹1,800 crore ($250mil).
Jet Airways has 124 aircraft, of which it owns 16 aircraft, while the rest are on sale and leaseback from lessors.
The airline also said to finance the purchase of its 225 Boeing 737 Max aircraft through the sale and leaseback mechanism., and will phase out 75 older Boeing 737 aircraft by 2025.
Jet Airways has appointed an investment banker to help raise funds through sale of its stake in its frequent flyer programme Jet Privilege Pvt. Ltd and a consultant to achieve operational efficiencies, Agarwal said.
Jet Airways shares rose 5.21% to Rs254.65 apiece on the BSE, on Tuesday after the announcement