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Lenders' meet in sight, Jet Airways pilots defer strike

Sources says that the decision to defer the strike was taken as the pilots' body, which has about 1,100 pilots out of the total 1,600 under its umbrella, was divided over the call for strike till Sunday evening

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In an eleventh-hour development, the union pilots of Jet Airways deferred their call of a strike from Monday after the management of the crisis-ridden airline scheduled an emergency meeting with its lenders. The airline is seeking an immediate fund infusion of Rs 1,500 from its lenders for its operational requirements.

"It has come to our notice that there is a critical meeting planned tomorrow morning (Monday) with the airline management and SBI. In light of the meeting, the members have requested —through their team leaders — that call of no pay, no work be deferred to give the airline a chance of survival," said a statement by the National Aviator's Guild (NAG).

Sources said that the decision to defer the strike was taken as the pilots' body, which has about 1,100 pilots out of the total 1,600 under its umbrella, was divided over the call for strike till Sunday evening. Meanwhile, the airline management said that the strike would not have hit its "operations" anyway as it does not have more than seven aircraft that are currently flying. Just a few months ago, its fleet was about 119 aircraft.

This is the second such deferment of a strike as in late March, the union had first stated that its pilots would not fly from April 1 over non-payment of salaries. However, on March 31, it deferred the agitation to April 15, saying it wanted to give more time to the new management.

The pilots, along with engineers and senior management, have not received salaries since January.

JET’S DILEMMA

  • 1,100 – Union pilots who had planned to go on strike
     
  • 1,600 – Total pilot strength of the airline
     
  • 25-30% – Salary cut that they have been asked to take
     
  • $1.2bn – Debt that Jet Airways currently owes banks
     
  • 80% – Part of the original fleet that is now grounded
     
  • 7 – Still operational aircraft
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