Veiled threat to hire foreign pilots as Jet stand-off deepens

New Delhi/Mumbai, S With the stand-offbetween the Jet Airways and the agitating pilots deepening andservices badly disrupted for the second day today, the carriergave a veiled warning of hiring foreign pilots to tide overthe situation.

While the airline cancelled over 200 flights as morethan 400 cockpit crew failed to turn up for work for thesecond day, a meeting between Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal andstrikeres' body National Aviators Guild (NAG) failed to takeplace. However, back-channel talks were reportedly on to findways to end the stalemate.

Goyal, who met Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel,did not rule out hiring foreign pilots if it came to that.

Asked if Jet Airways would think of recruiting foreignpilots, he said "yes ... we will request the governmentauthorities. There are enough pilots available in the world."

He also threatened to take disciplinary action againstpilots, if they did not follow the law of the land, followdiscipline and if they were not bothered about even committingcontempt of court.

Jet is contemplating seeking DGCA approval forinducting some spare pilots of its wholly-owned subsidiary,JetLite, into its own fleet to tide over the situation.

While both sides appeared unrelenting, there wereunconfirmed reports that agitating pilots were holding talkswith the management through interlocutors. (more)