New Delhi: The pilots and employees of Jet Airways alleged a conspiracy by Etihad Airways and the State Bank of India-led consortium to destroy their 26-year old company to help out a particular airline capture all its business. They accuse Etihad of repeating how it killed two airlines in Germany and Italy. The moot question that the employees ask is: “Why has the EOI (expression of interest) not made public and why the binding bids are not being expedited even when the company remains grounded and its enterprise value is sharply declining each passing day.”
“In two weeks time we will have no planes, few pilots and some slots. These three are the most precious and time consuming resources which Jet built over 26 years which will evaporate in six weeks,” the employees rued while exuding confidence that “the loyal clientèle will surely return only if we have the resources and a possibility to scale up.” “More than 60 airplanes out of a total of 120 have been deregistered, with the bulk of them going to competition. Another 30 airplanes are expected to be deregistered in the next two weeks.
Already 220 pilots have exited the company since last October and 200 more have tendered resignation. That is 30% of the workforce,” they said. They say, the crisis could have been averted but for SBI not pumping in money and Etihad Airways – calling the shots since January was not putting in its share of funds and collaterals. They wonder if Etihad was repeating what it did in the past with Air Berlin and Alitalia that they had to exit and face recovery of USD 2 billion upwards.
It was because of Etihad that the complete aviation ecosystem in these two countries – Germany and Italy – was destroyed and will take years to rebuild. “So if Etihad has to take over why can’t it decide in 48 hours to get on board or leave as it has been partners for the past five years and know the accounts as good as anybody. Importantly, the Forensic audit carried out by Ernst & Young on behalf of SBI did not find anything amiss.”