New Delhi: Employees of cash-strapped Jet Airways protested outside the Civil Aviation Ministry here Tuesday, demanding revival of the airline and payment of their pending salaries.
The protests came amid the State Bank of India-led consortium of lenders struggling to find a buyer for the airline which ceased operations around mid-last month due to acute liquidity crisis.
Around 200 employees of Jet Airways demonstrated with banners reading ‘Hear our cry, let 9W fly’, ‘We fly you around, don’t let us be on ground’, ‘We have dependents to feed, please don’t let 9W bleed’ and ‘A family helps each other for cleaning house’. ‘9W ‘is the flight code for Jet Airways.
As the protesters moved towards the ministry, Delhi Police and CRPF personnel erected barriers to stop them.
Three employees of the full-service carrier met SK Mishra, joint secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Asish Kumar Mohanty, one of the employees who met Mishra who works in the engineering department of the carrier told this agency the excat conversation they had with Mishra. “We have given him an update about today’s conditions within Jet Airways… We have not got salaries for the last five months. In between, our medical coverage has also been stopped as the management has told us that they have no revenue,” he said.
“We told him about three important concerns for the airlines – employees’ pending salaries, no management is there now to look after Jet Airways and expedition of SBI’s bidding process,” added Mohanty.
Jet Airways’ CEO Vinay Dube, CFO Amit Agarwal, company secretary and compliance officer Kuldeep Sharma and chief people officer Rahul Taneja had resigned from their respective posts May 14.
“The joint secretary said the government is very much concerned about the revival of Jet Airways. He said that the higher officers know about it and dialogue and meeting are going on. We told him that the dialogue and meeting have been going on for the last 3-4 months, but nothing has been done on paper as yet,” Mohanty informed.
Mohanty said that the joint secretary has assured them he will tell his ‘top bosses’ about the employees’ concerns. He added that the central government would be given a petition Tuesday itself.
The lenders, whom Jet Airways owes over Rs 8,000 crore in debt, are offering 31.2 per cent-75 per cent stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.
PTI
