Jet Airways has cancelled all international flights for today and tomorrow due to scarcity of funds. Flights to Amsterdam, Paris and London have been cancelled for two days. Jet Airways informed the exchanges late on Thursday that it has grounded 10 additional aircraft. “Jet Airways had proactively cancelled all west-bound long haul flights from India from Thursday until Friday morning,” reported news agency Reuters quoting a company spokesman. He would not say whether Jet’s operational fleet was now less than 20, only that it was in the double digits, according to the report.
Here are 10 things to know:
- Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola told news agency ANI, “It (Jet Airways) is currently operating less than 15 planes and its eligibility to fly on international routes needs to be examined.”
- As per rules, an airline needs to have minimum of 20 aircraft to be eligible to operate international flights.
- Till recently, the airline operated 26 aircraft, including Airbus A330s, Boeing 777s, 737-800 and ATRs, to various destinations like London, Toronto, Singapore, Amsterdam, Paris, Bangkok and domestic sectors like Mumbai-Delhi, among others.
- Jet Airways is in the midst of a severe liquidity crisis that has affected its operations and resulted in the grounding of several of its aircraft.
- Aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday announced it de-registered seven Boeing 737-800 aircraft of Jet Airways, allowing its lessors to take the planes out of the country so that it can be leased to any other airline, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
- Jet’s lenders, led by State Bank of India (SBI), have been seeking a new investor to take a stake of up to 75 percent in the airline. Initial bids were to be submitted by the end of Wednesday, but SBI has extended the deadline to April 12.
- Meanwhile, media reports suggested that its former promoter Naresh Goyal is said to be planning to bid for the airline from which he had to step down as chairman last month.
- On Wednesday, Indian Oil Corp, for the second time, halted supply of fuel to Jet Airways for a few hours over non-payment of dues.
- The National Aviator’s Guild (NAG), a trade union of Jet Airways pilots, has also served a legal notice to the management of the airline over delays in the payment of salary.
- Jet Airways shares closed 1.14 per cent lower at Rs. 260.40 on the BSE. (With agency inputs)
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