MUMBAI: Jet Airways has dismissed media reports about its planes being grounded on lease rental defaults with GECA having taken first step to ground its aircraft.
“The statement “GECAS takes first step to ground the aircraft” as appearing in the media is factually incorrect and hence denied. The company is actively engaged with all its aircraft lessors, including GECAS, and regularly provides updates on efforts undertaken by it to improve its liquidity,” a Jet Airways statement sent to the stock markets clarified.
Jet went on to add that aircraft lessors have been supportive of the company’s efforts in this direction, and to date, Jet Airways has not grounded a single aircraft due to any grounding notice received from GECAS.
The statement signed by Kuldeep Sharma, vice president, Global Compliance and Company Secretary, said that the company had grounded one aircraft for scheduled termination of its engine’s lease and one aircraft for technical reasons, adding that the company is also in process of redelivering three aircraft to lessors due to the scheduled expiry of their respective lease terms.
However, the cash-strapped airline said three aircraft have been temporarily grounded by the company to carry out an engine normalization exercise and once the engines are normalized all three aircraft will be ready to fly.
“We expect this process to be complete by Friday, i.e. February 1, 2019. The company is making all efforts to minimize disruption to its network and is proactively informing and re-accommodating its affected guests,” the statement noted.
