New Delhi, March 31: Averting an immediate crisis, the management of Jet Airways have succeeded in seeking a 15-day period from the National Aviators' Guild (NAG) - a body constituted by the cash-strapped airlines pilots to spearhead their agitation seeking the clearance of unpaid salaries.

The protesting group has asked the flyer to clear their wages and dues by April 15 -- failing to which, they would stop flying the aircrafts, bringin the operations of Jet Airways to a standstill. The Jet Board members have reportedly assured them of meeting the new deadline. Jet Responsible for Their Financial Performance; Govt Can't Interfere in Day-to-Day Operations, Says Suresh Prabhu.

After the management proposed to clear their salaries within a fortnight's period, an open house meeting was called by the NAG today in both Mumbai and Delhi. The pilots overwhelmingly decided to postpone their planned strike.

The NAG, which claims representation of around 1,100 pilots of the total 1,600 with the full service carrier, last month announced that its members will not fly from April 1 unless their pending salary dues were cleared and a clarity on future payments was provided by March 31.

Jet Airways has been defaulting on salary payments to pilots, engineers and senior management since August last year.

The loss-making airline, which is now under the ownership of SBI-led consortium of lenders following a debt-recast plan, on Saturday said it could remit only the remaining amount of December salary to pilots and others.

Jet Airways engineers have also reportedly threatened to stop work from April 1 if their dues are not cleared by March 31.

However, the airline expressed its inability to clear the remaining three months dues of the staff immediately.

“The board of directors and the management team are working as fast as possible to implement the resolution plan agreed with the consortium of Indian lenders to quickly restore the much-needed stability to our operations and build a sustainable future for the airline,” Jet Airways chief executive officer Vinay Dube said in a communication to pilots and engineers on Saturday.

“These are complex processes and it has taken longer than we had expected and as such we are only able to remit your remaining salary for December 2018,” he said.

(With PTI inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2019 09:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).