NEW DELHI: Beleaguered airline Jet Airways on Tuesday announced grounding of 15 more aircraft over non-payment of outstanding dues to lessors. With the latest announcement, Jet is now left with only 20 operational aircraft, out of a fleet strength of around 120.
The fresh grounding is likely to cause more trouble for passengers, who, in recent times, have been struggling with high cancellation rates and spike in fare prices.
“The Company is also making all efforts to minimize disruption to its network due to the above and is proactively informing and re-accommodating its affected guests,” Jet Airways said in a statement.
The fresh grounding also casts a shadow on the effectiveness of new resolution plan to save the ailing carrier. After the lenders led by SBI took majority stake in the airline for Rs 1,500 crore on March 24, it was expected that the airline would ground no more planes, and instead, fly 40 more aircraft by the end of April. However, more planes were grounded.
Jet is yet to solve the salary woes of its pilots, who have postponed to April 15 their decision to not fly, if the issue is not resolved.
The airline, in an internal communication, offered a six-month sabbatical to its pilots and a five-day working roster.
“Due to changes in operational requirement, B737 flight crew will be assigned on a five-day working and three-day off roster from April 11 to April 26,” Jet said, adding, “Additionally, flight crew seeking a long break/sabbatical between April-September 2019 may put in their requests to the fleet office for approval.”
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has only approved the summer schedule of Jet Airways flights from March 31 to April 25. The summer schedules of flights of all other domestic airlines such as Vistara, IndiGo, Air India and GoAir have been approved till October 26.