New Delhi, Mar 19 (IANS): Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday directed senior officials to hold an emergency meeting on the grounding of flights by Jet Airways.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation tweeted: "Directed Secretary, MoCA, to hold an emergency meeting on grounding of flights by Jet Airways, advance bookings, cancellation, refunds and safety issues, if any.

"Asked him to get a report on Jet compliance issues immediately from DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation)."

The development comes a day after passengers were left stranded at Abu Dhabi as Jet Airways cancelled flights.

The cash-strapped Jet, which has been forced to ground over 40 aircraft of its fleet due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors, is regularly grounding aircraft as it is unable to pay the lessors.

Industry sources said the airline had grounded over 50 per cent of its 123 aircraft.

On Monday too, following a similar pattern, Jet Airways informed BSE that four aircraft were grounded due to non-payment of money outstanding to lessors.