Jet Airways halts all international flights until Monday

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Passengers are stranded in India and around the world after Jet Airways suspended all international flights.

Flights from London, Paris and Amsterdam are among those grounded amid fears about the survival of India's largest private airline.

The Indian prime minister's office is said to be calling an urgent meeting as the airline cancelled all international flights until Monday.

The airline is saddled with more than $1bn (£765m) of debt.

It is seeking a financial lifeline to avoid collapse and, on Thursday, grounded 10 planes over unpaid fees to leasing firms .

It was not clear how many of its fleet of more than 100 planes was still in operation but local reports suggested that that it was barely a dozen.

Carriers in India must maintain a fleet of least 20 aircraft to continue to operate international services.

The airline flies on 600 domestic and 380 international routes.

From London, the airline confirmed it had cancelled its flights between London and India for 12 April, but provided no information on other routes.

It said it was “working to minimise guest inconvenience” and was “offering re-accommodation choices or extending applicable refunds as the situation warrants”.

“In parallel, the airline's management and its key stakeholders including its consortium of lenders, continue to work closely towards resolving the current situation,” the airline said.

India's Aviation Minister, Suresh Prabhu, tweeted that his ministry would “review issues related to Jet Airways” and “take necessary steps to minimise passenger inconvenience and ensure their safety”.

Skip Twitter post by @sureshpprabhu

Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to #JetAirways. Asked him to take necessary steps to minimise passenger inconvenience and ensure their safety.

— Chowkidar Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) April 12, 2019

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End of Twitter post by @sureshpprabhu

All Jet Airways' international flights scheduled to depart on Friday from Delhi - to Singapore, London, Amsterdam and two to Kathmandu - are cancelled, the airport's website says.

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The website of London's Heathrow airport showed Jet Airways' Friday flights to Mumbai and Delhi will not operate and a spokesperson for the airline advised travellers to contact the airline for the latest information.

Image caption Heathrow said it was aware of the situation and urged passengers to contact the airline

Callers to the customer line in the UK receive an engaged tone while some frustrated customers were sending tweets to the airline which appeared to go unanswered.

As it typical in the airline industry, Jet Airways has a number of code sharing agreements, one of which is with Virgin Atlantic, which said it was aware a number of Jet Airways had been cancelled on Friday.

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority said it was aware flights had been suspended.

Image Copyright @UK_CAA@UK_CAA

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Image Copyright @UK_CAA@UK_CAA

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Jet Airways owes money to employees and suppliers and in recent weeks it has grounded aircraft and cancelled thousands of flights - disrupting passengers locally and around the world - as its financial strains worsened.

The pilots union in India is planning a protest on Saturday and has written to the airline demanding that the employees are paid. Staff of the airline were pictured by Priyanka Iyer of Business Television India marching to the company's headquarters in Mumbai.

Skip Twitter post by @PriyankaIyer

#JetAirways staff walks to Mumbai HQ to seek clarity on salaries and their job security. Ground staff has not been paid since a month and Association may file an FIR against the co and the management if no clarity is given. @jetairways @TheOfficialSBI @BTVI #JetAirwaysCrisis pic.twitter.com/f8UHNJzjTP

— Priyanka Iyer (@PriyankaIyer) April 12, 2019

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End of Twitter post by @PriyankaIyer

Rare intervention

By Sameer Hashmi, India business correspondent

In March, when the crisis at Jet Airways led to thousands of flights being cancelled, the government immediately stepped in and asked public sector banks to rescue the private carrier.

It was a rare move. With India holding a national election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government did not want the airline to be grounded as that would have affected 23,000 jobs.

The lenders which took control of the airline have only released a fraction of the amount they had promised so the airline has not been able to pay aircraft leasing companies. This means its fleet has shrunk further from the 100-plus it had at the start of the year.

The lenders have started accepting bids from potential investors, but that process will take a couple of months to complete. And many analysts fear that Jet Airways will not survive even a week if immediate cash is not provided to keep the operations running.

Investment sought

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The airline was founded by Naresh Goyal more than 25 years ago and he and his family currently own 52% of the airline, although that majority stake is expected to be lost as lenders' restructure the debt.

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A consortium of investors led by the State Bank of India (SBI) took control of the airline in March.

The group is searching for a new investor to acquire a stake of up to 75% in Jet Airways. The deadline for bids had been extended to Friday, according to reports.

Ellis Taylor, deputy Asia editor of Flight Global, told the BBC the airline was in a “precarious position”.

“The interim lifeline that the carrier talked about two weeks ago looks like it won't materialise any time soon, and that really leaves its future looking bleak,” he said.

There were reports in local media that India's aviation ministry might review the regulations setting the fleet cap, which could allow the airline to resume international services.

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Sandeep Kooner and her three children had been expecting to be on a flight from London to India on Friday evening to attend her niece's wedding in Punjab.

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But the 40 year-old who lives in Walsall will now miss the first few days of the week-long celebrations after her Jet Airways flight was cancelled.

“I had just sat down in the nail salon when I got a text message to say my flight had been cancelled,” she told the BBC.

She has now arranged to fly with Air India, but that will be days later and to Delhi - an eight hour drive to her destination - rather than a local one.

“I'm not 100% sure my problem is 100% sorted,” she says.

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