Thousands of passengers have been stranded in India and around the world when Jet Airways had suspended all international flights on April 12 after allegedly being saddled with debt worth £900 million. As the Indian airline continues to scrape its way out of insolvency by trying to secure emergency funding from India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), reports have surfaced over a British entrepreneur showing his “interest” in providing a security net to the cash-strapped airline.
Jason Unsworth, CEO & founder of statrtup Atmosphere Intercontinental Airlines, has written to Vinay Dube CEO of Jet Airways about “the several investors who are interested in Atmosphere, and they have also shown interest in Jet Airways.”
Unsworth claims that he has received “a reply from Dube. He has put me in touch with a senior Jet Airways official for updates."
While, Unsworth's interest in Jet Airways can be seen as the first ray of hope for the private airline which has grappled with financial loss since June 2018, the abrupt flight cancellations continues to remain a challenge for passengers across the world including travel agents and tour operators who facilitate the process of ticket bookings.
“I booked to travel to India with Jet Airways through a travel agency. They rang two days ago saying that the flight has been cancelled because of Jet's financial crisis. Now, the travel agency is offering very expensive flights at such a short notice,” said Gurlove Kaur Dhaaliwal, a clinical practitioner at the NHS.
But Gurlove is just one of the many passengers who took to social media to express her frustration at the airline. Many complained that they could not get in touch with customer services, while others claimed employees hung up the phone on them mid-conversation. Amidst the chaos surrounding the bailout process of the airline former Kingfisher Airline CEO Vijay Mallya had called the crisis as “Airline Karma”.
“Even though Jet was a major competitor to Kingfisher at the time I feel sorry to see such a large private airline on the brink of failure. I invested hugely into Kingfisher which rapidly grew to become India’s largest and most awarded airline. True, Kingfisher borrowed from PSU Banks as well. I have offered to pay back 100 per cent but am being criminally charged instead. Airline Karma?” read his tweet.
But as stakeholders continue to discuss the way forward in the fate of Jet Airways some travel agents in the UK have spoken about how they are assisting the passengers in the “cancellation and refund process.”
“If the passenger has not yet started their journey, then they should be able to claim a full refund from their travel agent but they should contact Jet Airways as well to endorse their ticket on a partner airline,” explained a travel agent who wished to remain annonymous.
According to him “many passengers are being refunded for their unused tickets, however the refund process can take up to four weeks of processing time.”
Passengers have also been gripped with fear of increasing air fares if the airline were to dissolve and this has been echoed through another travel agent who said-
“Jet Airways had over 30% market share of the UK – INDIA route. Therefore, by Jet Airways not operating these flights it could mean that we could see a 30% hike in air fares unless additional capacity is added through existing or new airlines.”
But aside from travel agents and tour operators, some aviation exerpts with years of experience in writing about travel, have taken to the social media to provide guidance and alternate travel suggestions to these passengers and waive off their anxiety.
“Don't believe travel agents who say that they will get your money back from Jet Airways. The Airline owes money to their staff, banks, airports, fuel companies, hotels and so on. This means that the passengers are at the bottom of the list for refunds. Instead speak directly with your credit/debit card company.
“If your flight is cancelled, be flexible, avoid holidays and don't be particular about the airline with which you're travelling and be prepared to take the longer route to India,” said Michael Lutzenberger in a FaceBook post.
Currently, Etihad Airways, which owns a 24 per cent stake in Jet, has reportedly submitted an expression of interest to buy a controlling stake. While Jason Unsworth, a member of the Conservative party has written to British Prime Minister Theresa May, asking for support in his interest in Jet alongside his letter to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
