New Delhi: In an attempt to control the rising airfares, and to assess the crisis arising out of the beleaguered Jet Airways, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) called for an urgent meeting on Friday. According to sources, the meeting has been called after Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu asked the secretary of the department to review issues concerning Jet Airways. The announcement comes at a time when airfares have been on an upswing across India for the last few weeks due to sharp decline in number of flights primarily caused by grounding of around 90 per cent of the 119-aircraft fleet of the cash-strapped Jet Airways. The availability of flights was also hit by pulling out of SpiceJet’s 12 “737 Max” aircraft in March over safety concerns following an Ethiopian Airlines plane crash on March 10.
Crisis-hit Jet Airways is facing acute financial crunch and has grounded several of its flights. According to the DGCA, the airline is currently flying less than 50 domestic flights. Suspends international ops Jet Airways, extended suspension of its international operations till next Monday due to severe liquidity issues. On Thursday, the airline had announced temporary grounding of its international operations. With just 14 aircraft left for operations, aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola had told PTI that the ministry was awaiting a report from the DGCA to decide whether Jet can continue to fly on international routes.
The government rules stipulate an airline must have at least 20 planes for operating international operations Expression of Interest Incidentally, the stake sale bid invited by the SBI- led consortium of bankers, which manages the day-to-day operations of the airline, also closed on Friday, after being extended by two days. Airline founder Naresh Goyal, the UAE carrier Etihad Airways, Air Canada and the country’s national investment fund among others are reported to have submitted bids, according to reports.
Stake pledge More than 5 pc stake of Jet Airways has been pledged with SBICap Trustee Company, according to a regulatory filing. Lenders have taken control of the full service carrier, which has a debt burden of more than Rs 8,000 cr. As per the filing 5.19 pc stake or 58,95,704 shares of the airline were pledged with SBICap Trustee Company on April 11.
