Like we mentioned a couple of days ago, due to the unfortunate incidents at Brussels Airport, Jet Airways, which operated a hub at Brussels has been affected with 4 Airbus 330 planes on the ground, and up to about 1200 passengers affected, apart from the airline crew on the aircraft and on the ground.

We initially posted the flight schedule which was affected. However, now, it turns out with Brussels airport not being operational for the next few days, at least until Friday March 25, 2016. You can check the latest airport update here. Hence, Jet Airways has cancelled its entire schedule to and from Brussels till March 26, 2016. Here is an excerpt of the statement from their Facebook page:

Jet Airways was supposed to cut over to its Amsterdam hub as of March 27, 2016. Which would have meant that these were the final few flights of Jet Airways to Brussels when the unfortunate event hit. Now, they have four Airbus 330 planes at Brussels which are awaiting the airport to function again as well.

Recovery flights on March 24, 2016

To bring the passengers who were stuck in Brussels back to their homes, Jet Airways is operating recovery flights from Amsterdam airport, where they were anyways in the process of setting up new infrastructure.

Jet Airways’ staff has been hosting guests in the various hotels across Brussels over the past few days and now they have brought in passengers from Brussels to Amsterdam by road in the absence of train and air infrastructure. Jet Airways is operating the following flights today:

For the passengers travelling to the US, Jet Airways’ has accommodated them on a Delta flight to JFK instead on March 25.

Injured crew

Jet Airways’ Amit Motwani and Nidhi Chaphekar were injured in the blasts, and underwent medical care in Brussels. We know they did not suffer critical injuries, but I hope the trauma they are undergoing goes away quick. Jet Airways has already taken their families to Brussels to make sure they are together in these hard times.

Aircraft on ground

For Jet Airways’ the following planes are stuck in Brussels:

• VT-JWS (A333) which operated 9W229 between Toronto and Brussels on 22 March
• VT-JWU (A333) which operated 9W228 between Mumbai and Brussels on 22 March
• VT-JWR (A333) which operated 9W230 between Delhi and Brussels on 22 March
• VT-JWP (A332) which operated 9W227 between Newark and Brussels on 22 March

It is unclear what aircraft is Jet Airways using to operate the recovery flights to India and Toronto since their own aircraft are on the ground in Brussels, or if they have managed to ferry their aircraft from Brussels to Amsterdam for these flights.

Hats off to Jet Airways

Apart from Brussels Airlines, no other airline would have had a lot of aircraft on the ground, since it is not home base for them. Jet Airways has been running a scissor hub from Brussels since 2008. I’ve gone through those gates at Brussels innumerable number of times. And yet it came to this when Jet Airways was in the final lap of their Brussels ops. I’ve definitely flown with Amit in the past, and the other injured staffer also rings a bell. I hope they get better soon.

I’ve seen pictures of Jet Airways’ staff in their yellow uniform sarees putting passengers at ease in the Netherlands. Letters and emails from Jet Airways to all affected passengers to take them to their destination and other stuff. I really do need to salute them for standing tall in this hour, taking care of passengers just as they would on another ordinary day.

Pesky passenger posts

You can’t blame me for being touchy at this moment. I see people clogging the Facebook page of the airline with stupid messages which ensure the ones who need real help can’t use these channels. Take a look at these. My point is, people are not thankful enough that they got their life saved by a skin, but instead now hounding Jet Airways for their baggage and re-accommodation and $100 while they try and fix this massive situation they have on hand.

Readers, do you know anyone affected with the current situation at Brussels. Let us know if we can help.

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