Thirty seven passengers and crew of an Ahmedabad-bound Jet Airways flight today had a miraculous escape when one of its engines caught fire, forcing the plane to land back here under emergency conditions.

Domestic private air-carriers, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, on Friday raised their fuel surcharges by up to Rs 200 on domestic flights.

In a major shake-up in Jet Airways, its Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer has put in his papers and Nikos Kardassis, who heads the airline's US operations, will take over from him as acting CEO from October 15.

Close on the heels of Air India inviting global expressions of interest to lease out seven aircraft, the airline's private counterpart Jet Airways has initiated discussions with foreign carriers to lease out two of its wide-body airplanes.

A Coimbatore-bound Jet Airways plane carrying Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and 63 others was on Friday forced to return here after it developed a technical snag mid-air, prompting the DGCA to seek an explanation from the airline.

A Coimbatore-bound Jet Airways plane with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram onboard returned to the Chennai airport on Friday due to a technical problem that developed mid-air.

A section of Air India pilots went on a strike on Saturday to protest reduction in their productivity-linked incentives but operations of the national carrier were unaffected as only some flights were cancelled.

The fall in domestic air traffic seemed to have stabilised with official figures on Monday showing a marginal increase of 30,000 in passenger load in August from the previous month.

The five-day-old stir by Jet Airways pilots ended on Saturday night as the airline management and the agitators reached a settlement under which the four sacked pilots would be reinstated and a consultative group made up of the two sides formed to resolve all issues.

The stalemate in the discussions between Jet Airways and the agitating pilots continued on Saturday, with no indications of the resolution of the five-day old impasse on the right of pilots to form a union.

Air India said on Saturday it has not hiked its fares or overcharged passengers in the wake of the agitation by Jet Airways' pilots.

Jet Airways' 260 domestic and international flights, including 32 from the national capital, were cancelled on Saturday as the strike by the pilots entered the fifth day after nine-hour long conciliation talks between them and the management ended in a deadlock.

Conciliation talks between Jet Airways pilots and the management to end the four-day pilots' stir remained deadlocked on Friday night, as the Government expected a solution to the crisis "within the next 48 hours".

The civil aviation ministry has asked airlines not to charge excessive fares from passengers in the wake of agitation by pilots of Jet Airways.

With the Jet pilots' agitation continuing for the fourth consecutive day on Friday, the airline has cancelled 173 flights across the country including 15 from the national capital.

Jet Airways pilots’ union, National Aviators Guild has said that it would meet with the air-carrier's management in New Delhi on Friday to hammer out a solution to the current crisis.

Jet Airways today cancelled nearly 200 domestic and international flights as its pilots continued their agitation to protest sacking of two of their colleagues.

Pilots have indicated that they would continue their stir against sacking of two of their colleagues after no headway was made in the discussions between the two sides till late Wednesday night.

With the stand-off between the Jet Airways and the agitating pilots deepening and services badly disrupted for the second day on Wednesday, the carrier gave a veiled warning of hiring foreign pilots to tide over the situation.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued a contempt notice to the pilots' union of Jet Airways for continuing the strike despite an earlier order restraining them.

Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said he would have no option but to follow "the law of the land" if an action had to be taken against the agitating pilots, while appealing to them to resolve the matter amicably and return to work.

Marketmen said the crisis in the private carrier came at a time when concerns about the prospects of the aviation industry were clouding investor sentiment.

Most of the morning flights of Jet were cancelled except its operations to Europe, the UK, North America and Singapore, airport sources said.

Hardening its stance, Jet Airways management on Tuesday sacked three more pilots after over 400 of its pilots went on a mass sick leave to protest last month's termination of two of their colleagues' services, paralysing the private airline's flights nation-wide.

Taking a tough stand, Jet Airways pilots' union spearheading the agitation on Tuesday said there could be no progress to end the deadlock unless two of their sacked colleagues are reinstated.