'They are behaving like terrorists. They cannot hold the country, the passengers and the airline hostage,' Goyal told reporters here before his meeting with the officials of the aviation ministry and Patel.

'We won't tolerate such blackmail. The livelihood of more than 30,000 employees of Jet Airways is at stake. I am open to meeting and talking to the pilots. I will be more than happy. But they cannot harass the passengers,' Goyal said.

Unlike the day before when the bulk of the passengers booked on Jet Airways were left virtually stranded at the airports, Wednesday saw many of them accommodated on its low-cost arm JetLite and the state-run Air India.

'We have accommodated 80 percent of the passengers on other carriers. For the balance, the entire fare has been refunded,' chief operating officer of Jet Airways Hamid Ali told reporters in Mumbai.

Goyal said apart from causing hardship to passengers, the agitation was resulting in major losses for the airline, which is already facing hardship because of the downturn, as the carrier was also losing out because of the inconvenience caused to passengers.

'We had bookings from over 14,000 domestic passengers and 9,500 international passengers,' Goyal said, seeking to project the carrier's losses in terms of how many guests the airline was unable to fly.

The government also tried to do its bit when it asked all states to review the situation with regard to what it called a 'wildcat strike' and invoke provisions of their respective Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).