Jet Airways plane seized in Amsterdam for non-payment of dues

MUMBAI: Adding to the woes of the crippled Jet Airways, a European cargo services provider has seized one of its Boeing planes at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues.

The aircraft was to operate a flight (9W 321) to Mumbai from Amsterdam Thursday, an airline source said. "The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source said Wednesday.

The airline has grounded more than three-fourths of its fleet due to non-payment of lessors' rentals and is operating just about 25 planes out of its 123 earlier.

Due to cash crunch, the airline has been paying only part salaries to its over 16,000 employees which forced a section of its pilots on Tuesday sending a legal notice to the management which is currently being headed by the lenders led by State Bank of India.

The airline has confirmed the cancellation of the said flight attributing to "operational reasons".

In a statement, Jet Airways said flight 9W 231 from Amsterdam to Mumbai scheduled for April 10, has been delayed due to operational reasons. The aircraft had flown to Amsterdam from Mumbai Tuesday and was scheduled to return Thursday, the source added.