Despite Naresh Goyal stepping down as the Chairman of Jet Airways, the airline’s troubles keep growing. On the 30th of March, the pilots of Jet Airways threatened to go on strike because they haven’t been paid for the last four months.
In an angry statement, the pilots told the Jet officials, if their dues are not cleared soon, they will no longer work for free.
“After having been aggrieved over the last eight months my anticipation, belief and confidence in your management has been completely eroded, washed off due to the complete lack of communication in a transparent and fair manner,” said a letter written by a pilot to Vinay Dube, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jet Airways, on the 29th of March.
On the 29th of March, 1,000 Indian pilots, including those who are not a part of the pilots’ union, National Aviators Guild, took part in the protest and said, they refuse to work after the 1st of April. According to sources, the strike may not happen if the airline makes the promised payments within the next two days.
“As announced earlier this week, the airline’s lenders and its management team would like to reiterate, that every effort is being made to inject adequate liquidity into the company, to quickly restore normalcy of operations, ensuring due compliance with all appropriate legal processes / formalities at the same time. While acknowledging the support of each and every member of its family, Jet Airways’ especially recognises the contribution of its pilots, AMEs and members of its senior management, who have sacrificed personal interests and have gone beyond their call of duty in order to ensure safe and reliable operations for the airline’s guests,” said a spokesperson from Jet, while replying to the protest mail.
While the banks promised an influx of Rs. 1,500 crores to Jet Airways after the exit of Naresh Goyal as the Chairman, there is no sign of the money so far.
The pilots initially threatened to go on strike from the 1st of March, but when the announcement for the cash came, they delayed the strike by a month.
Even though the airline gave a response to the striking pilots, no clear date was given as to when the funds will be released.
Stay tuned for more updates.