Jet Airways suspends all operations

India's longest serving private airline, Jet Airways shut down all its operations on Wednesday evening after the government and bankers went back on their assurance to keep it afloat with their financial support.

“Since no emergency funding from the lenders or any other source is forthcoming, the airline will not be able to pay for fuel or other critical services to keep the operations going,” Jet Airways said in a statement confirming it has closed down its operations temporarily.

With an over Rs 8,000 crore debt on its books, Jet was struggling to get funds from a banking consortium headed by India's largest public sector State Bank of India as its repayment defaults in the past many months put lenders on a high alert as they imposed stringent conditions on the airline, including pledging Jet-owned planes before

Last month, the government and SBI had assured that Jet Airways would not be allowed to go bankrupt and the jobs of its 20,000 employees would be intact.

The SBI had promised Rs 1,500 crore funding to the embattled airline but could provide only about Rs 300 crore so far.

Though the operations have been suspended temporarily until the lenders begin to re-inject funds, industry experts say it is extremely difficult to revive an airline which is completely grounded.