Even as Jet Airways limped back to normalcy on Sunday after a five-day stir by over 500 pilots, the stand-off has proved costly for the airline - a loss of over Rs.2 billion ($40 million). A grim Executive Director Saroj Dutta revealed that on an average the airlines is patronized by nearly 24,000 passengers daily across its network spanning domestic and international sectors. “On an average, our daily revenues are in the range of $8 million (Rs.40 crore), so you can calculate how much we stand to lose for the past five days,” he said. However, he pointed out that there were minor savings on certain variables, like aircraft turbine fuel (ATF) since the flights did not operate. Moreover, during the past five days the airline made attempts to transfer nearly 60 percent of the passengers on other airlines and a small number even to its sister airline, JetLite. Dutta announced the setting up of a consultative body comprising representatives of the management and the staff to resolve pending issues concerning the pilots. As the crisis ended, the management also decided to re-instate four sacked pilots and not initiate any action against the nearly 500 pilots who agitated last week, Dutta said. The company would also not pursue the pending contempt petition before the Bombay High Court which was slated to come up for hearing on Monday, he added.
