Hinting at job losses going forward, grounded carrier Jet Airways chief executive Vinay Dube Wednesday said the airline does not have an "answer" at present on the fate of its 20,000-odd employees during the stake sale process. The SBI-led consortium of lenders has offered prospective bidders ownership of the airline anywhere between 31.2 percent and 75 for which it had run an online bidding process between April 8 and 12 and had shortlisted four - Etihad Airways, NIIF, private equity funds TPG Capital and Indigo Partners-who can submit the final bids by May 10.

"However, we must also be realistic that the sale process will take some time and will throw up several more challenges for us, many of which we don't have the answer today," Dube said in a communication to the harried employees who have not been paid since March. "For example, we don't have an answer today to the very important question of what happens to employees during the sale process," he added. Nevertheless, he said the leadership team is working on answering such questions alongside the lenders. Jet owes over three months salaries to 15 percent of the staff comprising senior management, pilots and engineers. Besides it has also defaulted on the March salary of its entire workforce.