NEW DELHI: The woes for crisis-hit Jet Airways are far from over. While the airline has already grounded two-third of its fleet cancelling hundreds of flights every day, a trade union has given it an ultimatum to come up with a rescue plan by March 31. The pilots of Jet Airways have threatened to stop flying from April 1, if the airline fails to clear their dues.
In a meeting held on Tuesday between the airline executives and aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Jet informed DGCA, “current availability of aircraft in the fleet for operation is 41 and accordingly, a schedule for 603 domestic flights and 382 international flights has been drawn.”Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu had directed DGCA officials to review the grounding of planes by Jet Airways, advance bookings, cancellations, refund and safety issues.
Earlier, in a letter to the DGCA, the Jet Airways aircraft maintenance engineers’ association wrote that “it has been arduous to meet financial requirements, which has adversely affected the psychological condition of Aircraft Engineers and therefore the safety of public transport airplanes being flown by Jet Airways across India and the world is at risk.”
Jet in a statement said that its planes are safe to fly and are being maintained at the highest level of safety.
Prabhu has also directed DGCA to maintain airworthiness of aircraft being used and avoid last minute cancellations or change in the schedule in order to minimise passenger inconvenience.On Tuesday, the airline said it has grounded six more planes due to non-payment of lease rentals. On Monday, the airline said that an additional six aircraft (include one of Jet Lite) have been grounded.