Jet Airways cancels all international long-haul flights

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All of Jet's long-haul services, including to London, Paris and Amsterdam, were suspended from Thursday night to Friday morning, a spokesman for the airline in New Delhi told CNN.

The spokesman added Friday that the flights had resumed, but at least one important destination still seemed to be absent.

"Jet Airways has canceled its London-India operations for April 12, 2019," the airline's British office said in a statement.

Concerns about the airline's future have intensified when Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted that his department would "look into Jet Airways issues" and "take the necessary steps to minimize the inconvenience for passengers and ensure their safety ".

Concerns about a possible collapse would tarnish Prime Minister Narendra Modi's power in favor of trade as the Indians vote in the elections that began Thursday. The failure of a major airline would put at risk thousands of jobs.

Jet Airways has already canceled thousands of domestic and international flights, with aircraft being blocked by non-payment of fees to aircraft leasing companies. She said Thursday at the Bombay Stock Exchange that she had detained 10 more planes due to unpaid dues.

Last month, the founder of Jet Airways was forced to resign as part of a government-backed rescue plan. Naresh Goyal resigned as president and resigned from the board, allowing the banks to take control of the company.

The largest state-owned bank in India, the State Bank of India (SBI), is leading the consortium of creditors, which launched Monday the process of selling its stake. According to reports, several airlines, including Etihad, are interested in bidding.

Etihad already holds a 24% stake in Jet Airways. A spokesman for the UAE-based airline declined to comment on the bidding process.

India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world, but the competition is fierce. Airlines are struggling to make money given the intense pressure on fares. Rising oil prices and the volatility of the Indian currency have made life even more difficult.

Jet Airways has accumulated huge losses and has run out of patience with its creditors. The profits of the market leader, IndiGo, also suffered and the government was forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the national airline Air India after the failure of a privatization attempt at the beginning of last year.

Swati Gupta and Zahraa Alkhalisi from CNN contributed to this article.

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