Jet Airways suspends flights to and from Abu Dhabi
18 Mar 2019
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Jet Airways has suspended operations to and from Abu Dhabi, the base of its partner Etihad, from today, ostensibly for “operational reasons.” There is, however, no word as to how long will the flight suspension continue.
Etihad holds 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways and is widely expected that Jet Airways service Etihad’s base as well since the Gulf carrier is a major source of financial and operational support for the beleaguered Indian carrier.
It is widely rumoured that Jet Airways move has much to do with Etihad’s inability to provide interim funding support of Rs750 crore.
A board meeting of Etihad on the matter was inconclusive.
“It must be reiterated that non-receipt of interim funding will be severely deleterious to the future of the airline, leading to its grounding, which is something all of us, including the banks and other stakeholders, have worked assiduously to avoid over the last few months,” Goyal had written to Douglas in a letter dated 8 March.
The airline has already grounded over 50 planes even as arrears to vendors and salaries to employees have gone up considerably , which make provision of interim funds all the more imperative, Goyal said.
In a letter to the labour ministry and DGCA, the pilots union National Aviators Guild said all pleas to the management regarding delayed salaries have fallen on "deaf ears", and that the situation at the airline has been worsening every day.
Naresh Goyal, in his letter to employees two weeks ago, had assured that the situation would improve by 18 March.
"Confident that the situation will ease up in our favour by March 18. CEO Vinay Dube and team will give a detailed update by March 18," Naresh Goyal had said in that letter.
