Mumbai: Cash-crunch hit private carrier Jet Airways Tuesday said it has grounded 15 more aircraft due to non-payment of rentals to lessors, taking the total number of grounded planes to 69. The fleet strength in the airline has, however, has come down to 20 now.
Till last month, the Mumbai-headquartered airline, which is now under the new ownership, had taken 54 planes out of operations due to lease rental defaults.
“…. an additional 15 aircraft have been grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements,” Jet Airways said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
Last week, the airline had informed the government it has 35 aircraft in operations.
On March 25, Jet Airways’ board approved a resolution plan formulated by SBI-led domestic lenders. Under the plan, lenders decided to take control of the airline and make a fund infusion of Rs 1,500 crore.
LEAVE IN LIEU OF PAY DUES: Times of India has reported that Jet Airways has told its Boeing 737 pilots that they can take a “long break/sabbatical” without pay till September. Last week the airline had sent all its highly paid expatriate pilots on long leave without pay.
A communiqué from Jet cited by ToI reads: “Due to changes in operational requirement, Boeing 737 flight crew will be assigned on a 5-day working and 3-day off roster from April 11 to 26, 2019. Additionally, flight crew seeking a long break/sabbatical between April-September, 2019, may put in their requests to the fleet office for approval.”
Meanwhile, National Aviators Guild (NAG), Tuesday wrote to aviation minister Suresh Prabhu requesting the government to ensure that the airline paid them salary dues with interest for January, February and March. They said the prevailing situation was not “ideal” for them to be in the cockpits.
In two separate communications to director-general of civil aviation BS Bhullar and Jet Airways chief executive Vinay Dube, the guild also said they are facing problems in paying their EMIs and other financial commitments.
The pilots along with engineers and have salary arrears for three months, starting January.
The letters from guild president Karan Chopra Tuesday comes two after they deferred their strike call to April 15, which was earlier to begin April 1.
“Non-payment of salaries is leading to extreme tension and frustration among us, which is hardly an ideal situation for pilots in the cockpits. EMIs, school and college fees to be paid along with medical bills of our ageing parents,” Chopra said.
The guild, which claims to represent around 1,100 of the 1,600 Jet pilots, had announced earlier warned to go on strike from April 1, unless their salary dues were cleared and clarity was provided on future payments by March 31.
Jet, which is now under the ownership of the SBI-led consortium of lenders, has been delaying salaries to its pilots along with engineers and senior staff since last August. On December 6, 2018, the management had revised its earlier payment schedule, according to which it was to clear all dues by March 31.
“All pleas to the management in this regard have fallen on deaf ears. The management must pay arrears along with allowance from the due date and pay interest as well as per market rates,” Chopra said in the letter.
On March 21, the guild had sought government intervention in Jet, after which SBI had stated that the banks would infuse Rs 1,500 crore to sustain its operations for the next two months.
On March 25, the airline board approved a resolution plan formulated by SBI-led lenders, under which lenders took control of the airline with 50 per cent holding.
