The Jet Airways case is a sad but great case study in many ways, and provides many learnings, despite the sad impact on the many employees suffering the uncertainty.

However the reason for this post is to highlight the many issues of corporate governance that have failed us.

To begin with today the airline has no real “owner”, the shareholders of the airline and the board are helpless in the hands of the lender, who while being a lender is also a proxy owner with pledged shares of the erstwhile promoter. Obviously the lender’s priority is to try and get back the money, but may end up killing the goose that lays the egg and end up losing all in the hope of getting its loans back.

The minority shareholders, the employees, the vendors, the partners, and the passengers are all helpless stakeholders in a drama that is getting increasingly reckless as the days progress.

This to happen to an airline that in March 2018 was talking about ordering 75 aircraft indicates many things wrong. But all fingers point to an ineffective board, that has remained largely silent against the whims & fancies of the promoters & lenders.

One hopes the airline can sustain the period until a new owner is found. #corporategovernance