Struggling Indian carrier Jet Airways has halted flights to and from Singapore until further notice, Changi Airport, said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
“Passengers are advised to contact their booking agent or the airline directly (info@jetairways.com) for available options,” the airport said.
The debt-laben carrier, India’s second largest airline by market share, once blazed trails in one of the world’s fastest-growing air travel markets.
Jet Airways’s problems began when it embarked on an aggressive international expansion plan in 2006, said an industry executive who has been associated with the airline.
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As low-cost Indian carriers heated up the competition, Jet Airways lowered its prices without reducing its expensive services. High fuel prices and hefty taxes compounded its spending issues.
The 26-year-old airline posted losses in eight of the past 10 years and its share of the domestic passenger market has fallen to about 15.5 per cent in 2018 from 22.5 per cent in 2015.
It is now saddled with more than US$1.2 billion of bank debt and has been forced to ground more than three quarters of its fleet, mainly by lessors owed several months’ payments, sources have said.
That has led Jet Airways to cancel hundreds of flights, leaving thousands of customers stranded in recent weeks. (ChannelNewsAsia)