Jet Airways suspends flights to Abu Dhabi

Struggling Indian airline Jet Airways has grounded its operations indefinitely at Abu Dhabi Airport from Monday, citing operational reasons.

“Jet Airways has cancelled all their flights from Abu Dhabi with immediate effect from March 18 due to operational reasons,” Etihad Airport services informed its passengers on Sunday, according to Indian media reports.

The airline, which is partly owned by Etihad Airways, also has a code-share partnership with the Abu Dhabi carrier.

Jet Airways confirmed that all affected Etihad passengers were rebooked onto alternative flights or offered refunds.

“Jet Airways has pro actively taken certain adjustments to its flight schedule keeping in mind the likely yet interim non-availability of some aircraft in its fleet in the foreseeable future,” the Indian airline told newswire PTI.

India’s second-largest carrier, cash-strapped Jet is grappling with debt of more than $1bn and has delayed payments to banks, lessors, vendors and staff.

Payment defaults have led the airline to ground close to 40 aircraft, forcing hundreds of flight cancellations.

The airline has planned cancellations of more than 600 flights in March, a source told Reuters.

According to Indian media reports, Jet founder Naresh Goyal had requested Etihad CEO Tony Douglas for an urgent cash infusion of Rs750 crore ($108.6m) to help the airline remain afloat. However, Etihad – which owns a 24 per cent stake in Jet – has reportedly not provided any funds so far.

Read: Pilots of Etihad-backed Jet Airways seek govt help to recover unpaid salaries