New Delhi, Sep 8 - National carrier Air India Tuesday said it had both aircraft and crew on stand-by for immediate deployment should Jet Airways be forced to cancel more flights in the coming days.

'We are in talks with the government and Jet Airways officials,' Air India spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava said.

'In the event of need to operate special flights to help stranded passengers, we would do so for which we have kept on stand-by aircraft and crew,' Bhargava added.

As per government norms, advance permission has to be secured from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for scheduled operations by carriers - be it for additional flights or withdrawals.

According to Bhargava, the carrier had already been accommodating as many stranded passengers as possible in not only on the existing domestic routes but also overseas flights that transit through Indian cities.

Some 20,000 passengers were stranded after the pilots of Jet Airways went on mass sick leave, leading to cancellation of nearly 200 flights - both domestic and international.