A delegation of Jet Airways employees on Saturday met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at his residence here and apprises him of their demands including transparent bidding process.
“We met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and presented our case. We requested him to have an open and transparent bid process. He assured us of that and also told us that as part of the expression of interest, there were four parties that were interested in Jet Airways,” said Vinay Dube, Jet Airways CEO, while speaking to reporters after the meeting.
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“We also requested him to keep our employees with Jet Airways. They should be given the salary of at least a month. Finance Minister Jaitley has assured that he would look into the matter,” he said.
Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola was also present in the meeting.
Shivalika Sharma, member, Guest Delight Team of the airline who was a member of the delegation that met the Finance Minister, said that they were hopeful of dominating the skies once again after meeting the Union Minister.
Jet Airways on Wednesday cancelled all flights including its international flights temporarily after failing to secure emergency funds from its lenders, according to a statement by the airline.
The embattled airline said to have taken the decision after the State Bank of India (SBI) on behalf of a consortium of Indian lenders informed on Tuesday night that they were unable to consider its request for critical interim funding.
“Since no emergency funding from the lenders or any other source is forthcoming, the airline will not be able to pay for fuel or other critical services to keep the operations going. Consequently, with immediate effect, Jet Airways is compelled to cancel all its international and domestic flights,” Jet Airways had said in the statement.