Several employees of debt-ridden Jet Airways on Saturday participated in a strike demanding safeguarding of the jobs and payment of dues owed to them outside Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. The airline had cancelled all its west-bound international flights from India until Friday and domestic flights between Mumbai and Kolkata and Kolkata and Guwahati for Friday citing operational issues.
The firm has grounded several aircraft in its fleet of 119 in recent months. The airline had asked its lenders for “interim funding” to pay the pending salaries, PTI reported.
The employees, including pilots, flight attendants and ground staff, had staged a sit-in on Friday. They carried banners that read “Save Jet Airways, Save our future” and “Hear our cry, Let 9W fly”.
Jet Airways will fly six to seven aircraft on both days this weekend on domestic routes, Aviation Secretary PS Kharola had said on Friday. The same day, Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered a review into matters related to Jet Airways. Prabhu said he ordered Kharola to do the needful.
In March, Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal resigned from the board of directors of the company. The company had said that an interim panel would be set up to handle its affairs, and added that lenders have promised an immediate infusion of Rs 1,500 crore in the airline.
According to reports, Jet Airways’s debts amount to Rs 8,000 crore or more. The airline has not confirmed the debt amount but has said it owes money to banks, pilots and suppliers.
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