The 800 workers who were already fired will be able to resume work from today, Goyal said in Mumbai last night at a press conference broadcast on television. The company on Oct. 15 said it eliminated 800 flight attendant jobs and may extend the measure to 1,900 workers.

Taking back the workers could hurt efforts to cut costs at the unprofitable airline, which this week formed an alliance with Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. to jointly save 15 billion rupees ($307 million). Airlines in India are merging and forming tie- ups to reduce expenses as higher fuel bills and purchase of aircraft pull down profits.


"My conscience doesn't allow to just look at the economics,'' Goyal said. "My management did it on the basis of economic conditions as the whole industry is going through a very difficult period.''

The decision to take back the workers comes after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena political party said October 15 it would prevent Jet from operating flights from its Mumbai base if it didn't reconsider the decision, Press Trust of India reported.

Goyal denied that the decision to take back workers was made because of outside pressure.

BBC