Jet Airways Denies Reports Of Grounded Aircraft

India’s Jet Airways has denied local media reports that the struggling airline was forced to ground aircraft because of non-payment of leases.

Media reports said that three aircraft had been grounded on Tuesday due to missed payments, taking the total to six, but in a stock exchange statement Jet denied the reports.

The airline said it had “not grounded a single aircraft due to any grounding notice received from GECAS.” The GE-owned lessor was mentioned in a report as having requested the grounding of five aircraft.

Jet also outlined the aircraft that were not flying, but none were due to non-payment of leasing costs.

It said three aircraft have been temporarily grounded to carry out engine normalisation, expected to be completed by Friday. One is grounded due to the scheduled termination of engine leases, and another for technical reasons.

Jet is also in the process of redelivering three aircraft to lessors due to the scheduled expiry of their respective lease terms.

The airline said it is making all efforts to minimise disruption to its network due to out of service aircraft and is informing and re-booking affected passengers.