Mumbai: For the second consecutive day Jet Airways flights were disrupted following an ongoing agitation by pilots, leading to cancellation of 160 flights across the country Wednesday, an airline official said.
Many pilots continued to report sick on Wednesday despite a Bombay High Court order last evening restraining them from resorting to any form of strike in the country's largest private airline.
Many passengers, however, had already cancelled their flights with Jet Airways. So there was relatively less chaos at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile the striking pilots got support from the National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI). General Secretary Abdul G Sarang said early on Wednesday that until the issue was resolved, the NUSI would not utilise the services of Jet Airways to transfer their members all over the country and to other parts of the world.
Jet pilots are expected to meet the Director General of Civil Aviation, a senior civil aviation ministry official said Wednesday. The directorate has asked states to see if it is necessary to invoke the Essential Service Maintenance Act (ESMA) if the agitation continues.
The government is expected to meet Jet Airways officials sometime later in the day. It could also give clearance to the national carrier Air India to add flights to carry Jet Airways passengers.
Jet Airways officials have said that they have been able to maintain their international operations. However, it had to cancel 16 international flights Tuesday after the pilots reported sick.
Jet Airways chief Naresh Goya he would talk to pilots but they have to end their strike first. "I am open to meeting and talking to the pilots. I will be more than happy to meet them. But they cannot harass the passengers," he said.
"We won't tolerate such blackmail. The livelihood of more than 30,000 employees of Jet Airways is at stake," he said after meeting senior government officials.
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