Non-payment hitting hard, flight safety at risk: Jet Airways' engineers

Cash-starved Jet Airways on Tuesday alleged that non-payment of salaries had adversely affected its members' psychological condition, which puts the safety of the airline's flight operations at risk.

In a communication to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Jet Airways Aircraft Maintenance Engineers' Association (JAMEWA) sought the aviation regulator's intervention in recovering the dues, saying the management's failure to keep its commitment of clearing their salary by March had "shaken" their faith in the company.

Jet Airways has nearly 560 engineers to maintain its fleet of over 100 planes. The JAMEWA claims representing around 490 engineers.

"As of now, three months' salary is overdue to us," the association said in an e-mail to the DGCA. "It has been arduous for us to meet our financial requirements, which has resulted in adversely affecting the psychological condition of engineers at work and therefore, safety of public transport aircraft being flown by Jet Airways across India and the world is at risk."
The Jet Airways' senior management, after a series of meetings with the association, had released a payment schedule last December, according to which the dues were to be cleared by the end of this month, the letter said. "However, the company defaulted on it and our confidence in the company have shaken."