The Hindu Business Line : No political pressure to reverse staff lay-off: Jet chief

New Delhi, Nov. 22 The Chairman of Jet Airways, Mr Naresh Goyal, has said that there was no “political pressure” or “political compulsions” that made the airline reverse the decision of terminating the employment of 1,900 staff.

Addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Mr Goyal said that the staff were taken on in anticipation of future expansion plans of the airline.

He said that keeping in mind the airline’s plan for “this year, the next year and the year after,” people were being taken for a variety of jobs including airport duty, flight dispatch and cabin crew. However, due to the global slowdown, the airline had to have a re-look at these plans.

“I do not run the company on a day-to-day basis. The board decided that we need to cut costs and rationalise capacity. The whole thing was mishandled. I do not want to criticise the management. But the 1,900 number was blown out of proportion,” Mr Goyal said.

In October, the airline was said to be looking at retrenching 1,900 employees. The decision, however, was reversed within a day after protests from various quarters.

At that time, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, had told newspersons that he had spoken to Mr Goyal to reconsider the decision.

Earlier speaking at the summit, he expressed optimism at the future prospects in the aviation sector.

“The Indian economy is growing, the middle class is growing and the percentage of population below 30 years of age is large. Despite the current tough times, the sector will bounce back,” he added.

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