General aviation

Jet Airways collapses, ceases operations

A former Jet Airways Boeing 777 (photo: Jet Airways).

India’s Jet Airways, which offered service from Toronto to Delhi and Amsterdam, has shut down, after months of decline and a shortage of cash.

Jet had been trying to obtain last-gasp funding from Indian banks, but with no money forthcoming, and no way to pay for aircraft leases, fuel, or landing fees, the airline had no choice but to ground its few remaining planes.

The lone Jet Airways flight from Toronto showed as cancelled Wednesday.

“After 25 years of sharing the Joy of Flying with Indian and international guests, Jet Airways has been forced to take this extreme measure as prolonged and sustained efforts with lenders and authorities did not yield the desired results,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.

The move capped off a decline weeks and months in the making. Jet cancelled international services last week, after planes were seized over unpaid bills, leaving only a skeleton of Indian services remaining. Thousands of passengers were stranded.

Pearson International, in a tweet, referred affected passengers to Jet’s toll-free customer service, or the company’s local ticket office. Toronto was Jet’s lone North American office.

“Jet Airways sincerely and profusely apologises for the disruption to the travel plans of all its guests. The airline would like to thank them for their continued patronage, support and loyalty over the years,” the airline said.

Jet held out hope it would once again be in the air after a bid process led by the State Bank of India. Bids for what was left of Jet were due May 10.

Jet marked the second international airline collapse in less than a month. In late March, Wow Air of Iceland collapsed, dropping trans-Atlantic low-fare service.

Categories: General aviation