Even as Jet Airways's pilots and the management were hectically working out a settlement to end their stir on Friday, latest reports coming in say that pilots are not likely to return to work even on Saturday and the parleys would continue to break the deadlock that has severely disrupted flights affecting thousands of passengers.
The civil aviation ministry has asked airlines not to charge excessive fares from passengers in the wake of agitation by pilots of Jet Airways.Media reports said that following strike by Jet pilots, other airlines were charging an average of Rs 9,000-10,000 for Mumbai-Delhi route, while some are even charging up to Rs 15,000 per seat.
The airlines have waived charges for transport of relief cargo to Chennai.
Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines said they found it unnecessary to shell out an extra Rs 10 crore for the new terminal, especially since they would have to shift to the new integrated terminal -- T3 -- in less than a year. T3, when it begins functioning in March 2010, will be an integrated terminal for all operators. Kingfisher, Kingfisher Red and IndiGo have already started operations from the new T1D terminal, while Jet Airways, JetLite and SpiceJet are yet to shift.
At least 10 flights of Jet Airways and its subsidiary out of Delhi were cancelled on Tuesday as a large number of pilots did not report to work in protest against sacking of two of their colleagues, a move described as "sabotage of operation" by the airlines.
Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal said the strategic alliance forged almost a year ago between his company and Kingfisher Airlines has still not achieved tangible progress, and added that airfares need to rise by 20-25 per cent.
Three senior executives - Pradeep Kumar (senior vice- president, cargo), Shrimanikandan Ananthvaidyanathan (chief information officer) and Praveen Iyer (vice-president, revenue management), have quit amid worsening financial situation
Jet Airways is planning to float a new entity - Transjet - to house all Air Sahara flights, operations and staff.
Police said the Mumbai-based man identified as Clince Varghese, 26, and hailing from Thrissur district was an anchor of a popular music channel and he was detained for questioning along with his 27-year-old male friend. The two men were booked on the flight(9W 825) that was delayed by two hours following the incident, an airport official said.
Unless Naresh Goyal pulls the proverbial rabbit out of his hat or reveals an unexpected ace of spades, the airline he built from scratch - many refer to it as "his baby" - may slip out of his grasp, says Anjuli Bhargava.
The employees gathered at terminal-1B and chanted slogans against the airlines' chief Naresh Goyal and Vijay Mallya, the chairman of Kingfisher Airlines. They also vented their ire against the government for not taking any action against the Jet Airways for sacking nearly 1,900 of its employees, mostly probationers and trainees.
Failure to meet this deadline would mean Jet would have to forfeit its security deposit. In March 2008, Jet Airways bought 3,44,000 sq mt of commercial plot for Rs 826 crore for developing its global headquarters in the central business district of Bandra-Kurla.
Low cost carriers have 55 per cent of the market, up from 45 per cent in Q1 last year, and 30 per cent two years back. Does it mean India really is an LCC market? The performance of the airlines also seem to suggest that. While budget carrier Spicejet announced a small profit for Q1, all the big boys in the industry seem to be in trouble.
Private airlines Jet Airways and Kingfisher owe state-owned oil firms over Rs 1,774 crore (Rs 17.74 billion) in unpaid jet fuel bills, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said on Thursday.
Jet Airways group CEO Ravi Chaturvedi has resigned. Amid difficult times for the aviation industry, Jet Airways has cut three of its biggest loss-making international routes and plans to lease four wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft, besides phasing out three Boeing 737 planes.
The new initiative allows passengers to amend or cancel their booking without any penalty fee by simply using the "manage booking" facility
A revamped Air India under the Tata Group will be a real challenge while new airline Akasa Air will be a far less competitive force for the next two-three years, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said on Wednesday. Akasa Air, which is backed by former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh, ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube, got the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday.
Weeks before shutting down operations on April 17, a logistics vendor had taken possession of a Jet aircraft--a Boeing 777--at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues.
The airline would leave Mumbai at 7.30 pm and arrive in Riyadh at 9.15 pm. The same plane would then leave Riyadh at 10.15 pm and arrive in Mumbai at 4.20 am.
Prock-Schauer has resigned to join British Midland PLC. He will be replaced by senior vice president Nikos Kardassis.
Under the resolution plan, the lenders would end up having a sizable portion of shares in the airline, if their boards of directors agree to convert part of their debt into equity.
The five-day-old strike by Jet Airways pilots ended on Saturday night as the airline management and the agitators reached a settlement under which the four sacked pilots would be reinstated and a consultative group made up of the two sides formed to resolve all issues.
A Jet Airways spokesperson also said their flights in and out of Mumbai would operate in accordance with their normal schedule. However, their Kingfisher Airlines counterpart said one flight each on Delhi-Mumbai, Bangalore-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Mumbai and Nashik-Mumbai sectors have been combined with other flights on the same routes.
Over 150 domestic and overseas Jet Airways flights were cancelled after more than 400 pilots failed to report for work on the second day on Wednesday, leaving passengers stranded, even as the airline warned of stringent action if the cockpit crew did not call off the agitation.
They were supposed to fly by the Jet Airways whose services have been hit by the ongoing strike by its pilots, an Air India spokesman said.
'Now we will have real employees as the owner of the airline.'
Jet Airways is working on a plan that will entail a reduction in flight duty hours of its unconfirmed cabin crew (that will reduce their take-home salary), withdrawing some perks and downgrading entitlements like hotels as part of a package to reduce manpower costs. Perks on the block include a weight allowance (given to cabin crew if they maintain a certain body weight) and allowances for staying abroad amongst others.
This versatile lentil salad can be a whole meal by itself or an accompaniment to a light evening repast.
Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and state-owned NACIL owe public sector oil companies over Rs 2,241 crore (Rs 22.41 billion) as payment for jet fuel, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said on Tuesday.
The Bombay High Court on Monday asked Jet Airways and Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL) to settle their dispute over the takeover of Sahara Airlines by July 2 or else it would pass an order.
Competition Commission has held on to its observation about Etihad gaining joint control in Jet Airways and "significant" rights to appoint directors with a 24% stake purchase, while rejecting a plea to "rectify" its order that approved the deal earlier this month.
With carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines all set to battle it out on international routes, leading expatriates with years of experience in global airlines are now being wooed for top management posts.
Despite sharp erosion in the net worth of airline companies due to losses in the recent past, banks and financial institutions have decided to sanction loans to some of them including Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, while some of the companies in this sector are still waiting.
A Jet Airways spokesperson confirmed the pay cuts but said that the move was only temporary and once the situation improved, it would do a revision. The salary cuts range from 5 to 25 per cent and include the top management. In addition, other perks like car facilities and car maintenance allowances have also been withdrawn from May onwards, the source said.
Jet Airways is in talks with Chinese carriers for code-sharing deals to other destinations after it became the first Indian private air carrier to operate a service to China by launching its Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flight. The flight connecting the economic hubs of India and China was formally launched in Shanghai on Monday.
With the airline's operations suspended, how are you navigating this crisis?
Less than 48 hours after Jet Airways announced the retrenchment of 1,900 employees, the airline has decided to reinstate all the employees. Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal, in the late evening press conference on Thursday, requested all the sacked employees to come back to work from Friday.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has submitted replies to the CVC on a series of allegations raised by Nishikant Dubey against the deal and clarified all concerns raised by him, official sources said.
Confirming this, Jet Airways' CEO, Wolfgang Prock-Schaeur, said, "In the process of integrating the airlines, which is a must to keep JetLite afloat, there will be a shift of certain employees from JetLite to Jet and the workforce for both the airlines will be combined."
The airline has struggled to pay salaries and vendors on time and its Rs 10,963 crore fund and non fund based facilities have now been assigned 'D' rating by ICRA - the seventh rating downgrade since March 2017.
