A Jet Airways employee consortium and the London-based AdiGroup on Friday announced a partnership to bid for a 75% stake in the debt-ridden airline through the National Company Law Tribunal process, PTI reported.

On June 20, Jet Airways had gone into bankruptcy after the tribunal admitted an insolvency petition filed by the State Bank of India on behalf of 26 lenders. This came after the lenders were unable to find a suitable investor and received only a conditional bid.

“Jet Airways Employee Consortium and AdiGroup are delighted to announce their partnership to bid for acquisition of 75 per cent of Jet Airways through NCLT process,” a joint statement by the consortium, issued in New Delhi, said. “This is a new dawn in the history of India Aviation of operating an airline through Employee Initiative programme where every single employee of Jet Airways will become an owner of the airline.”

The private carrier owes around Rs 8,400 crore to banks. Total liabilities of Jet Airways, including unpaid salaries and debts to vendors, are to the tune of nearly Rs 15,000 crore.

A month ago, SpiceJet had said it plans to hire around 2,000 staff members of Jet Airways. The airline has taken over at least 22 planes that were earlier used by Jet Airways.

On April 17, Jet Airways decided to temporarily suspend all domestic and international operations after its lenders, led by SBI, declined emergency funds. Etihad Airways and a few other parties have offered to acquire stake in the debt-ridden carrier.