Jet employees protest against lay-off continues in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 16 : Several employees of Jet Airways, who were retrenched by the airline, today protested their lay off by the company at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

The employees gathered at terminal-1B and chanted slogans against the airlines' chief Naresh Goyal and the chairman of Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallya.

They also vented their ire against the government for not taking any action against Jet Airways.

They also thanked the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena for taking up the retrenchment issue in Mumbai. On Wednesday, Jet Airways decided to lay off 1,100 additional employees over the next few days.

Earlier in the day, Jet said it had retrenched 800 flight attendants and suspended its expansion programme, adding that it will also cut flights because of a slowdown in demand.

The additional job cuts would be across all categories and departments, Executive Director Saroj Datta told reporters in a televised press conference.

Jet Airways, in a statement, said it would reduce probationary and temporary workers in other areas, including management and pilots, as it planned to cut flights by about 15 per cent over winter.

In September, Jet had said the company and its budget arm JetLite offered 526 flights daily with a fleet of 109 aircraft.

On Monday, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, which between them have about 60 per cent of the domestic market, agreed on an alliance to cut costs through code-sharing, sharing of ticketing, ground services, joint fuel management, crew training and utilisation.

ANI