The lenders and the resolution professional (RP) of Jet Airways are understood to have shortlisted two bidders for the airline, which suspended operations in April.

Sources said the creditors have picked up Synergy Group Corp and Russian fund Treasury RA Creator who will now have to submit their respective resolution plans. These plans have to be submitted by October 14.

According to the invitation for expression of interest (EoI) released by the banks earlier, the final list of prospective resolution applicants will be issued by September 12.

Though Avantulo Group had also thrown its hat into the ring, the Panama-based investment firm did not make it to the next round.

The committee of creditors (CoC) have on three occasions extended the deadline for submitting expressions of interest (EoI) for the airline, which has come under insolvency proceedings.

The third deadline for the submission of the expressions of interest ended on August 31 and did not see any new bidders. Thus, only three players were left in the fray.

In the second round of submission of EoIs, which closed on August 10, the lenders received interest from Anil Agarwal’s family trust-backed Volcan Investments, Russian fund Treasury RA Creator and Avantulo Group.

However, Volcan opted out of the race a day after publicly announcing its interest in Jet Airways.

After the August 10 deadline, Synergy Group reportedly evinced interest in the airline. Synergy Group owns a majority in Colombian carrier Avianca Holdings, which has a codeshare partnership with Air India.

Etihad Airways, which owns a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, did not submit any bid.

The national airline of the United Arab Emirates has said that it declined to submit an EoI because of unresolved issues concerning Jet Airways’ liabilities.

It had acquired the stake in Jet Airways in 2013 at a time the latter needed significant financial support.

Etihad said since then it had consistently sought and advanced solutions to help resolve Jet Airways issues, but as a minority shareholder, it had limited capacity to secure the required changes.

The Jet Airways share on Wednesday ended with gains of almost 5 per cent on the bourses on the buzz that the creditors had shortlisted two candidates.

While the resolution professional has received claims of over Rs 30,000 crore from the various creditors of the airline, he had earlier admitted around Rs 12,000 crore of these claims with another Rs 6,000 crore under verification.