Jet Airways plunges on talks of pay cuts

The stock of Jet Airways plunged by more than 5 per cent on Friday following buzz that the airline is facing a severe cash crunch. This has also revived expectation of a stake sale deal by the airline.

Jet Airways is showing signs of distress, reported a leading news daily. The report claimed that the management has asked employees to accept a salary cut of between 5 to 25 per cent as part of cost cutting measures.

Increasing crude oil prices, deprecating rupee and stiff competition from low-cost carrier are taking a toll of the company's financial. The company had a debt of approximately Rs. 8,500 crore as of the end of March 2018.

With this, the talks on stake sale have remerged. Founding promoter, Naresh Goyal, who hold 51 percent stake is expected to offload some stakes to ease the cash crunch faced by the airline. The UAE's national airline Etihad Airway holds 24 per cent stake in the company.

Meanwhile, at 12:37 hours, the stock of Jet Airways was trading at Rs. 314.25 per share, down by Rs. 16.95 or 5.12 per cent on Friday. The BSE exchange has asked the company for clarification on the news article.