Jet pilots set March 31 deadline to resolve crisis, else they won’t fly

In a fresh blow to debt-ridden Jet Airways, its own pilots have taken a collective decision to not fly aircraft from April 1 if a resolution plan and way forward for their salary payments are not decided by then.

This was decided after the annual general meeting of National Aviator’s Guild (NAG) – the trade union of Jet Airways’ pilots of Indian nationality – on Tuesday.

The meeting was held to discuss the issue of salary delays due to the financial crisis the airline is facing.

Karan Chopra, President, NAG, said: “Our main intent is first to see if there is a resolution plan is in place, is the airline surviving. If the airline is surviving, I am confident that our salaries will come on time.”

For the past three quarters, the airline has been bogged down by a severe financial crisis and has been delaying salaries of its pilots, engineers, senior management and defaulting payments to lenders and lessors.