Jet passengers stranded at Abu Dhabi as airtline cancels flights

Passengers have been stranded at Abu Dhabi airport, finding it tough to return over the sudden cancellation of flights by Jet Airways.

The cash-strapped Jet Airways, which has been forced to ground over 50 per cent of its fleet due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors, is regularly grounding aircraft as it unable to pay the lessors.

"Jet Airways has cancelled all their flights from Abu Dhabi with immediate effect from March 18, 2019, due to operational reasons, further to the short notice of flight cancellation, HUB (Abu Dhabi) may face a minor disruption," said Etihad in a statement.

The cancellation comes on the day, which was set by founder and Chairman Naresh Goyal to announce an update on the resolution plan.

On Monday too, following the similar pattern, Jet Airways informed BSE that four aircraft were informed to be grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors.

Earlier, cash-strapped Jet Airways pilots' union had written to the government, seeking its help in recovering their pending salaries along with the accumulated interest.

Jet Airways currently has 1,900 pilots on its rolls.

In a letter written to Minister of Labour and Employment Santosh Gangwar, the National Aviators Guild (NAG), which represents the majority of Jet's pilots, said that all pleas to the Jet management in this regard "have fallen on deaf ears".

In the letter, a copy of which was accessed by IANS, NAG General Secretary Tej Sood, wrote, "This situation is leading to extreme tension and frustration among our members, hardly an ideal situation for pilots in the cockpit. Monthly EMIs have to be met, school & college fees have to be paid, along with medical bills of ageing parents etc."

Ironically, Jet has cancelled its flights from Abu Dhabi on a day when it was supposed to announce a resolution plan to its employees.

Several of Jet pilots have been approached by rival IndiGo and GoAir and they would decide on their future course depending on what Goyal tells them.

--IANS

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