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Jet Airways has shelved plans for an up to 25% cut in salaries of its non-management staff after protests from its employees including pilots and commanders. Chairman Naresh Goyal conveyed this to a section of the employees who met him Friday. The airline also credited employee salaries for July Friday. “The salaries were earlier put on hold because the management had expected to convince everyone to take a cut, but were released after the chairman’s assurance that there will be no cut,” said a Jet executive, who did not want to be identified. Jet Airways’ top management has already taken a salary cut. The airline officials said Goyal also sought help from the staff in salvaging the airline’s image that has taken a beating after media reports on pay cuts. <br/>

The mystery behind the Mumbai-bound Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 veering off into soft ground at Riyadh airport last Friday has been solved. The pilots mistook a taxiway for a runway and attempted a take-off. Licences of both pilots have been suspended, said Lalit Gupta, joint director-general, DGCA, Monday. Pilots are generally de-rostered after any “incident”, pending investigation. The tougher decision points to the gravity of the incident. In 2000, a SIA plane crashed after a similar mistake killing 81. Saudi Arabia’s Aviation Investigation Bureau said that the visibility was high and there were no obstacles on the taxiway. Experts are taken aback by the error. “What’s strange is that it occurred at night, when the white runway-edge lights and the blue taxiway lights are clearly visible,’’ said a senior instructor with a foreign airline. <br/>