Jet Airways’ domestic pilots body, the National Aviators Guild (NAG), on March 26 sought a meeting with State Bank chairman Rajnish Kumar over pending salaries, a day after the lenders took over the carrier founded by Naresh Goyal a quarter of a century ago.
The guild had last week announced that its over 1,100 -odd members would stop flying from April 1 of their salaries dues were not cleared and a clarity on the revival roadmap was not provided by March 31.
After lots of dilly-dallying, founder chairman Naresh Goyal and his board-member wife Anita, had on March 25 decided to step down and also pare their stake to 25.5 per cent from 50.1 per cent. The changes also saw its foreign partner Etihad halving its stake to 12 per cent and ceding a board position.
Under the new deal, banks, mostly led by state-run lenders, have would infuse Rs 1,500 crore of emergency liquidity to the airline and convert total debt of over 9,700 crore (including the fresh capital infusion) into equity worth 50.1 percent at a price of Re 1.
The guild members have come together and stood behind the airline when it was passing through its worst period, he claimed adding, “despite the severe financial difficulties and uncertainties over our future that we have been facing over the past few months, we have not wavered.”
Sood also assured the new management of its continued support in reviving the once top airline.
