Jet Airways sacks more pilots, may use crisis to shut down

Mumbai: Escalating the rhetoric against his airline's striking pilots, who have absented themselves on mass leave, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal warned of stern action on Wednesday if pilots continued to behave like "terrorists" and also continued to report sick "in violation of a Bombay High Court order".

"They are behaving like terrorists. They cannot hold the country, passengers and the airline hostage," Goyal said.

A total of 186 flights -154 domestic and 32 international – have been cancelled or affected throughout its network, the airline said.

"I am open to meeting and talking to the pilots. I will be more than happy to meet them. But they cannot harass the passengers," he said.

"We won't tolerate such blackmail. The livelihood of more than 30,000 employees of Jet Airways is at stake," the airline chief said.

His comments came after another round of meetings with top government officials in New Delhi. The Jet founder met aviation secretary MM Nambiar and DGCA chief Nasim Zaidi on Tuesday morning.