Jet Airways’ pilots have sent a legal notice to the management seeking immediate release of salary payments. The pilots, through the union National Aviators Guild (NAG), have set April 14 as the deadline to clear all dues.

“My client calls upon the management of Jet to pay the salaries outstanding for the months of January, February and March 2019 by 14th April 2019...failing which my client shall be constrained, instructed to inform you, to resort to all constitutional and legal methods available to it to ensure payment of the salaries to its members,” said a notice issued by NAG’s advocate Jane Cox to Jet CEO Vinay Dube.

Earlier, the pilots had said that they would stop flying from April 1. But after assurances from the management, NAG had postponed its decision to April 15. The pilot body had earlier written to the Labour Ministry flagging irregularities and delays in salary payments.

“This situation is leading to extreme stress, anxiety and frustration amongst my client’s member pilots — hardly an ideal situation for pilots in the cockpit...It hardly needs to be stated that passenger safety requires pilots who are flying stress-free and with a free mind,” said the legal notice.

All eyes on bidders

A senior NAG member said on condition of anonymity, “We have not heard back from the management for the past 10 days. SBI was to infuse interim funding with which the salaries of pilots, engineers and general managers were to be paid. However, that too has not happened. We are hoping that there might be a potential bidder who will infuse the much-needed money into the company because at the rate at which the groundings of aircraft are happening, we are unsure of the future.”

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