In what could be more trouble for debt-ridden airline Jet Airways, another 1,000 pilots and engineers will reportedly skip work from midnight on Monday. Quoting a senior official from the National Aviators Guild, NDTV reported that the pilots and other staff who have not been paid for the last three months will take a formal decision on Monday morning following a meeting.
“The flights will stop from midnight, the meeting will be held tomorrow. Unemployment is an election issue... In another day or two, more than 20,000 people in the Jet Airways can be unemployed,” Captain Karan Chopra, Head of the National Aviators Guild, the union for Jet employees told the TV channel, urging the government to step in. A source told PTI that the strike will be held from 10 am on Monday.
Speaking to TNM, a spokesperson for Jet denied knowledge of the same and claimed that their existing curtailed schedule would run unaffected.
Earlier on Sunday, crisis-hit Jet Airways had said it has extended the cancellation of its west-bound flights — to and from Amsterdam, London and Paris — until April 16. On April 12, the airline had extended the suspension of its services to these destinations till April 15.
"Jet Airways would like to clarify that it has currently suspended operations to SAARC and ASEAN destinations, as well as to or from Toronto and Paris from Chennai. The airline has also cancelled its long-haul, west-bound operations to or from Amsterdam, London Heathrow, and Paris until April 16, 2019," a Jet spokesperson had said.
The spokesperson had also said that the airline restricted sales on certain routes for a few days in order to re-accommodate guests "who have unfortunately been inconvenienced by the interim cancellations".
At present, the airline is operating only seven aircraft for domestic operations as over 80% of its fleet has been grounded by its lessors, which has resulted in the cancellation of several hundred flights daily, resulting in inconvenience for scores of passengers at various airports.
The airline's unpaid employees earlier carried out silent marches in New Delhi and Mumbai.
With IANS inputs
