Anger and shock among employees as Jet gets grounded

There is anger and shock among former and existing employees of Jet Airways as the airline announced on Wednesday that it will shut down all its operations.

Air travellers should brace for a hike in fares, especially if they are planning their journeys less than a week ahead; while those booked on Jet Airways’ flights could find it difficult to get their money back.

“It is not clear how this drama has played out. Almost every day the narrative was changing. Did those who were running the company not consider the possible consequences of the Supreme Court judgement when they made the announcement that a consortium of banks will be picking up a stake and pumping in funds into the airline?,” asked a former employee.

Narayan Hariharan — who served thrice with Jet Airways including being Senior Vice-President, with the Chairman Naresh Goyal’s

Office during 2006-09 — felt that Jet’s expansion of its network and day return flights to every destination, connectivity and through check-in were among the things which saw the carrier being a differentiator. “Printed boarding cards with eight alphabets gave a personal connect at a time when passengers were only recognised by a boarding card with a seat number,” he said.

An employee who stayed till the end probably summed it up best when she said, “And so the lights go down on a brand built with love and commitment over 25 years. One of the saddest days that I have seen.”

 

Peak season

The immediate effect of Jet cancelling its flights is, of course, going to be on airfares.

According to Indiver Rastogi, President - Global Business Travel - Thomas Cook India Limited, there will be a cascading impact of rising fares on last-minute bookings and people might want to defer their plans till fares stabilise.

“The cancellation of flights is creating an imbalance on the supply side in the face of peak demand and the resultant rise in fares is affecting us across our Business, Leisure and B-Leisure segments with immediate impact given that this is the key vacation season for India. There is also potential cascading mid and long term impact in the absence of a solution,” he adds.

Refunds, cancellations

Daniel D’Souza, President & Country Head, Leisure, SOTC Travel, added, “We are ensuring that all our customers travelling on affected routes with pre-booked tickets are being accommodated by other airlines.”

A travel agent added that they will be able to refund passengers only when they have got the money back from the airline.