Jet Airways on Friday told its employees that despite its best efforts there has been no clarity or commitment on salaries by any of its stakeholders.
In a mail to employees, Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube said the leadership team had spent the last few days trying to convince the consortium of Indian banks (led by the State Bank of India) to release some funds for employees, while continuing to support the bank-led bid process for the airline.
“We have told them repeatedly that our employees are facing grave hardships owing to non-payment of their salaries and that if this were to continue any longer, our employees will have no option but to find employment elsewhere. Unfortunately, the banks have said that they are unable to make any salary commitments, if at all, until after the bidding process is complete,” Mr. Dube wrote.
Flight of talent
The CEO informed that while on the one hand, they are being told to preserve the value of Jet Airways during the bid process, on the other hand, with no salary payment, some colleagues, who are the “very fabric and value” of this airline, have had no choice but to find employment elsewhere.
“When we highlight the disappointing irony of this situation to the lenders, we are simply told that this problem is to be addressed by the company’s shareholders, who should and could have agreed on a Resolution Plan a long time ago,” he said.
Mr. Dube revealed that separately, there have been considerable deliberations in the various Board meetings regarding the availability of emergency funding from the Promoter and Strategic Shareholder for payment of salary arrears, with no favourable outcome. “We have, as a unified Jet Airways team, also approached the Government at the highest levels to seek intervention and assistance in our situation and that too has not yielded positive results thus far,” he said.
The mail concluded that while the management will continue to support the Lender led bid process in our effort to leave no stone unturned, it pained him to communicate that no clarity or commitment on salaries had been provided by any of the Jet Airways stakeholders.
