15 Oct 2008, 
 
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has said that no Jet Airways flight would be allowed to take off from Mumbai if the airline does not reconsider its decision to terminate the services of nearly 1000 flight attendants.

The MNS chief's threat comes in the wake of the private airline's decision to dismiss nearly 1,000 employees to rationalise its operations.

Raj was talking to reporters after meeting a group of Jet employees who called on him at his office 'Rajgad' in central Mumbai.

MNS activists will meet Jet officials on Thursday to discuss the issue.

Jet employees protest against retrenchment

Around 300 Jet Airways employees, including cabin-crew, staged a protest outside the airline's office here against the management's move to retrench nearly 1,000 staffers. ( Watch )

"The (Jet) management cannot take away our jobs all of a sudden and without any prior notice," a protesting cabin-crew staff said.

The employees, who staged the protest in suburban Andheri, are also contemplating seeking political intervention.

A top Jet Airways official had, earlier, said that the airline has laid-off up to 1,000 jobs with a view to rationalise its operations.

The entire force of unconfirmed staff is being laid off on a 30-day compensation package, the official said.

"It is a part of handling economic slowdown and carefully rationalising operations," he said adding that the downsizing is based on capacity, load-factor and traffic patterns.

The rationalisation seeks to optimise operations, the official said, adding the air-carrier has stopped some of its existing flights, including that to San Francisco in the US.

Among those protesting are customer-care employees and flight dispatchers.

Jet, had on Monday announced that it was forming an alliance with its main rival -- the Vijay Mallya-run Kingfisher Airlines -- to cut costs, share resources and routes.

Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal and Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya had said the coming together of the two private airlines was in tune with the global practice of reducing "killing" costs. The tie-up, however, does not have any equity involvement, they had said.

The airlines together account for 60 per cent market share in the domestic civil aviation sector.

The alliance would work together on seven fronts, including route and code-sharing as also sharing of crew, a move that would help them cut exorbitant costs that had been putting enormous pressures on them, especially in the last two years. 

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