Jet Airways has grounded another six aircraft, raising the number of grounded aircraft to at least 48 for defaults on lease payments.
In a 19 March stock exchange disclosure, Jet says one of the six aircraft is operated by its subsidiary Jet Lite. Prior to this groundings have been concentrated on Jet Airways.
The airline's latest round of groundings forced India's aviation minister Suresh Prabhu to convene an emergency meeting.
In a series of tweets, he had directed his ministry's secretary and the country's directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) to hold a meeting to assess the grounding's impact on "advance bookings, cancellation, refunds and safety issues, if any." He has called for an immediate report from the DGCA related to Jet compliance issues.
He also tweeted a ministerial statement, noting that Jet Airways now has 41 aircraft in service, and is operating 603 domestic flights and 382 international flights. In that statement, he warned that "it is a dynamic situation and there may be further attrition in coming weeks."
The beleaguered carrier issued this in relation to its business: "The company is also making all efforts to minimise disruption to its network due to the above and is proactively informing and re-accommodating its affected guests. The company also continues to provide required and periodic updates to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in this regard."
Source: Cirium Dashboard
