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Mr Saroj K. Datta

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept 10 The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation has written to airlines asking them to charge fares at last week’s level.

This follows the airlines increasing fares by as much as four times after the daily operations of Jet Airways remained affected for the third day after a section of its pilots went on sick leave en masse. Jet Airways’ operations continued to be affected on Thursday.

The airline cancelled 226 flights, including 42 international services. It is said to have incurred a revenue loss of about Rs 54 crore in the last three days. .

The blame game for the stand-off continued.

Emerging from the office of the Chief Labour Commissioner, the Jet Airways Executive Director, Mr Saroj Datta, told newspersons that “the conciliation proceedings were adjourned till tomorrow. The pilots did not attend the meeting”.

The Jet Airways pilots, however, claimed they had not been called for the meeting on Thursday and indicated that senior members of the National Aviators Guild would participate in Friday’s meeting.

The pilots also produced medical certificates to show that they were unwell and had not suddenly gone on mass leave to disrupt flight operations.

While one pilot’s certificate claimed he had to take leave because of “flu-like symptoms”, another complained of “body-ache and general fatigue” while a third said he had a “stomach ailment”.

The Jet Airways issue also came up at the meeting of the Union Cabinet. According to sources, the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, “informally briefed” the Cabinet on what was happening in private sector airlines.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam has written to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, recommending that Jet Airways be taken over by the Government and nationalised.

(With inputs from Mumbai, Bangalore Bureaus.)

More Stories on : Airlines | Trade & Labour Unions | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Jet Airways (India) Ltd

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