Crisis at India’s Jet worsens as it grounds planes, faces strike

MUMBAI: India’s Jet Airways was fighting multiple crises after grounding six planes, leaving it with only a third of its fleet flying, while pilots have threatened to walk out and a major shareholder is reportedly looking to offload its huge stake.

The problems at India’s numbertwo carrier come as other airlines struggle to turn a profit despite the sector rapidly expanding in the country over recent years.

Jet, which employs more than 20,000 people, is gasping under debts of more than US$1 billion and has now been forced to ground a total of 78 of its 119 aircraft after failing to pay lenders and aircraft lessors.

In a statement late Tuesday announcing its latest grounding, the firm it said it was “actively engaging” with lenders to secure fresh liquidity and wanted to “minimise disruption”.

But with hundreds of customers left stranded, Jet’s social media accounts have been flooded with often suddenly stranded passengers demanding information, new flight tickets and refunds.

“@jetairways We book our flights in advance so that we save on travel cost and you are sending cancellation (message) now?”, read one irate tweet on Wednesday.

“I have sent a DM( direct message) regarding my ticket details. Please respond!”, said Sachin Deshpande, according to his Twitter profile a design engineer.

Another, Ankit Maloo, wrote: “Received an email for all together cancellation of flight days before departure without any prior intimation or communication over phone!” The firm is also facing pressure from its many pilots who have not been paid on time, with unions threatening they will walk off the job if salaries do not arrive soon.

“Pilots will stop flying jet planes from 1st April 2019 if the company does not disburse due salaries and take concrete decisions,” a spokesperson for the National Aviator’s Guild, a pilots union, told AFP.