Wednesday 17 April 2019 3:27 pm | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 12:58 am

Jet Airways suspends all domestic and international flights amid financial meltdown

Jet Airways is to shut all domestic and international flights from tonight after it failed to win interim funding from lenders.

The Indian carrier grounded all international flights on Monday while its pilots protested outside its headquarters, demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervene to solve the crisis. Many said they had not been paid for months.

According to India's Economic Times, the airline has been running 35-40 domestic flights over the past few days. Its share price crashed by 20 per cent at the time of writing.

The newspaper also reported that its licence could be suspended unless it is able to shore up its flight numbers.

In a press statement this morning, Jet Airways said it was unable to pay for fuel and other service to keep flights going.

"Consequently, with immediate effect, Jet Airways is compelled to cancel all its international and domestic flights. The last flight will operate today."

It added: "This decision has been taken after a painstaking evaluation of all alternatives that were made available to the company and after receiving guidance and advice on the same from its board of directors.

"Over the last several weeks and months, the company has tried every means possible to seek both interim and long-term funding. Unfortunately, despite its very best efforts, the airline has been left with no other choice today but to go ahead with a temporary suspension of flight operations.

"This has been a very difficult decision but without interim funding, the airline is simply unable to conduct flight operations in a manner that delivers to the very reasonable expectations of its guests, employees, partners and service providers."

The airline said it was is engaged with lenders and the State Bank of India and was awaiting a final bid. The bidding process will end on 10 May.