India's NCLT Dismisses Jet Airways' $92.1M Boeing Payment Claim

Jet Airways' liquidator Satish Kumar Gupta's bid to recover USD92.1 million in advances and pre-delivery payments made to Boeing for undelivered aircraft has been dismissed by a court in India.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ruled that the dispute required interpretation of the underlying purchase agreements, involving contested contractual issues outside its jurisdiction under Section 60(5) of India's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Gupta had argued that the funds formed part of Jet Airways' liquidation estate. However, Boeing countered that it had already applied the payments against its larger creditor claim and was entitled to deduct them from amounts owed by the airline.

The NCLT did not decide whether Boeing was entitled to keep the payments or deduct them from amounts owed by Jet Airways. The airline's audited accounts for the year ended March 31, 2020, recorded INR5 billion rupees (USD52.5 million) in advances to Boeing.