Financially-challenged Jet Airways Tuesday said its chairman Naresh Goyal met Civil Aviation secretary RN Choubey to discuss matters concerning the sector and the airline. The company that recently deferred its Q1 results has maintained that the Indian aviation sector, which has seen robust traffic growth, is passing through a tough phase primarily due to increase in Brent rates as well as a depreciating rupee. According to the company, the meet took place Monday. The airline has been evaluating various funding options to meet its liquidity requirements on priority. Monday, the airline had reiterated that all of its accounts with lenders are "standard" without any overdues. "There have been no delays in discharging any of our loan obligations to any of the lenders," the airline said. <br/>
eap
US private equity firm Blackstone Group is in talks to acquire a stake in the frequent-flier loyalty programme of Jet Airways, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. A potential deal could value the loyalty programme, Jet Privilege Private, between INR30b and INR40b and would be dependent on Jet Airways securing adequate funding for its airline operations. The carrier and its partner Etihad Airways will remain investors in Jet Privilege even after a potential Blackstone transaction. Etihad owns 50.1% of the loyalty programme, while Jet Airways owns the rest. Earlier this week, Jet said it was considering various options on priority to meet its funding requirements but called media reports on stake sale or plans to monetise its investment in its frequent flier programme as "purely speculative". <br/>