A few weeks ago we wrote about Jet Airways and Tata talking about a potential deal where the Tata group takes over Jet Airways which has been in the doldrums because of a balance sheet crisis and which keeps getting worse and better due to the forex and fuel prices.

The first question that everyone asked was what was going to happen to their JPMiles, and the next, more important issue, what would happen to Jet Airways.

The whole transaction was commented to as “speculation” by Jet Airways in their results conference call, but all eyes were on Tata Sons today, where the Board of Directors were supposed to meet today and be apprised of the deal. The urgency to inject cash in Jet Airways of course exists, but many media were portraying it as if today the deal was going to be presented to the board.

Anyhow, the airline did not comment on this situation today, but Tatas made a statement right after their Board meeting ended. What they did was at least confirm the talks were ongoing, putting a draw to one month of ‘SOURCES’ driven information.

Over the last few days there has been growing speculation in the print and electronic media about Tata’s interest in Jet Airways. We would like to clarify that any such discussions have been preliminary and no proposal has been made.

No. This is not a done deal yet. There is a lot to watch out for before anyone puts a proposal on the table. I enlisted tonnes of things that have to be checked out before such a transaction will fructify. But this is now in the realm of one step closer. Delta is currently busy with trying to buy Alitalia, so perhaps may not pay much attention to their Indian friend.

What do you think is going to proceed here? Are we finally going to have Jet Airways in the Star Alliance?