India's Jet Airways suspends all operations: statement

Mumbai: India's debt-stricken Jet Airways grounded all of its operations Wednesday after failing to secure emergency funding from lenders, the carrier said in a statement.

"Jet Airways is compelled to cancel all its international and domestic flights. The last flight will operate today," it said, adding that the decision would take "immediate effect."

Jet Airways temporarily suspended all flights after it failed to secure interim funding of Rs4 billion to maintain even bare minimum operations, sources said on Wednesday.

The airline only operates five aircraft with over 25 flights.

The development assumes significance as just a day before the airline's lenders said that they remain committed to its revival.

"As per the current financial situation, it is not possible to maintain operations without any further funding. Operations will cease from tonight," sources told IANS here in Mumbai.

The airline will operate its last flight for the day at around 10.30pm.

Jet has already folded up most of its operations due to grounding of more than 90 per cent of its fleet by lessors.

Awaiting the outcome of lenders' meet with the government, the cash-starved airline has extended cancellation of international flights till April 18 (Thursday) after last week suspending them till April 15 (Monday).

Jet owes over Rs80 billion to the SBI-led consortium of lenders. Its only ray of hope is an immediate injection of interim funding and the completion of the stake sale process initiated by lenders.