Jet Airways pilots defer strike before crunch creditors meeting

Pilots at Jet Airways have been told by their union to put off a planned strike to give its management and key lender State Bank of India time to strike a deal to keep the debt-laden airline flying, ANI reported Sunday. The National Aviator's Guild had earlier advised more than 1,000 pilots who have not been paid for 3 months to stop flying from Monday. With more than US$1.2b of bank debt, Jet is battling for survival and has yet to receive a loan of about $217m as part of a March rescue deal. An urgent meeting to discuss the Jet situation was held Friday, which was also attended by the country's aviation secretary, Pradeep Singh Kharola. After the meeting, Kharola said the carrier had money to operate 6-7 planes over the weekend and that the lenders would have to decide how many jets it could fly after Monday afternoon. <br/>