As Jet Airways continues to ground aircraft and cancel a significant number of flights, its aircraft maintenance engineers union wrote to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday, saying that three months of salary was overdue for them and flight safety “is at risk”.
The letter from the Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association (JAMEWA) that has been accessed by PTI, said:
“It has been arduous for us to meet our financial requirements, result of which have adversely affected the psychological condition of Aircraft Engineers at work and therefore the safety of public transport airplanes being flown by Jet Airways across India and the world is at risk.
“While the senior management is finding a resolution to be in business, we the Engineers who inspect, troubleshoot and certify the public transport airplanes for its airworthiness are in tremendous stress due to non-payment of salaries on time, since last 7 months. As of now, 3 month’s salary is overdue to us.”
The cash-strapped Jet Airways on Monday said it had grounded four more planes, taking the number of aircraft that are non-operational due to non-payment of lease rentals to 41.