Jet Airways cancels 14 flights as pilots report 'sick' over non-payment of salaries
Mumbai : Jet Airways cancelled at least 14 flights to various destinations on Sunday after some of its pilots reported "sick" over non-payment of their dues, sources said.
The loss-making private carrier has been defaulting on salary disbursement to its senior management along with pilots and engineer since August due to severe cash crunch.
The airline has partially paid to these staff for September while the full salaries of October and November also remain unpaid.
"At least 14 flights have been cancelled so far due to some pilots reporting sick. They are protesting against non-payment of salary, dues and the indifferent attitude of the National Aviator's Guild (NAG) in taking up the issue with the management," the source said.
The NAG is a domestic pilots body of Jet Airways, representing over 1,000 pilots.
The airline said in a statement the flights were cancelled due to an "unforeseen operational circumstance, and not pilot non-cooperation". It, however, did not give the number of flights cancelled.
Another source said, "Some of the pilots have also written to airline chairman Naresh Goyal, stating that they are unwilling to work in this manner."
Jet Airways said the passengers of the affected flights were duly informed about their flight status via SMS alerts and they have been re-accommodated or compensated.
"The company continues to enjoy the complete support and cooperation of all its employees, including pilots and engineers, individually and through their respective representative bodies, who have extended their solidarity and full support to the airline," the airline stated
The management is in regular dialogue with the pilots and other teams to discuss and resolve ongoing issues including disbursement of salaries, it added.
"As stated earlier, Jet Airways is committed to meet its obligations and has been progressively addressing this issue with the employees," it said.
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We received request; will decide soon whether to support TVK: Thirumavalavan
Chennai (PTI): VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan on Thursday said that his party received a request from TVK for support and the high-level committee of his party will decide whether to support the Vijay-led party to form the government.
The TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly and emerged as the single largest party. Vijay will have to resign from one of the two constituencies he has won.
Though the Congress party, which has five MLAs, has extended support to TVK, the actor-politician-led party was still short of as many seats to touch the magic number of 118, the majority mark in the 234-member House.
"We received the request letter from TVK. We are thankful for that. We have not ignored his (Vijay's) request. We have a procedure. Therefore, our party's high-level committee will decide soon. We are going to discuss the merits and demerits of our position," the VCK leader told reporters here.
With regard to the delay in the governor's call to the TVK, which is the single largest party, to form the government, Thirumavalavan requested the governor to invite Vijay to form the government. "It is a constitutional right and people's verdict," he added.
Asserting that the governor cannot say that Vijay should hold 118 MLAs' support now itself to form the government, he said that after taking over power, Vijay has to prove an absolute majority only on the floor of the Assembly.
