Ace acquires another plane as Jet deal gets delayed

Ace Aviation, which has been fighting Jet Airways for the acquisition of three Boeing B777 aircraft, said that it has acquired another aircraft for the conversion slot in early February 2025. Conversion slots are time slots given to change plane type.

- BHAVINI MISHRA

Michael Koish, chief investment officer, Challenge Group, which is the parent company of Malta-based Ace Aviation, said it has conversion slots in early 2025 to convert passenger aircraft to freighter and for that they needed the acquisition of the assets soon. However, the lack of cooperation from both the lenders of Jet Airways and the successful bidder for the airline, Jalan Kalrock Consortium, forced them to procure another aircraft from the market.

“We have secured several conversion slots starting the first quarter of 2025. We initially aimed to finalize the purchase of these Jet aircraft by mid-2024 to meet this deadline. However, the lack of cooperation from the banks and the SRA (Successful Resolution Applicant, that is JKC) has delayed the deal significantly. As a reminder, we signed an LOI (Letter of Intent) and injected $5.6 million into Jet account two years ago. Under the resolution plan, the deal was supposed to be closed within 45 days, yet two years have elapsed with no progress, and they keep dragging their feet,” he said.