No pay for April & May, SpiceJet tells its pilots

NEW DELHI: SpiceJet on Wednesday told its pilots that they won’t be getting any salary for the months of April and May. Pilots operating cargo flights — the only ones allowed during the lockdown — will be paid for the hours flown. The low cost carrier is one of the most financially stressed Indian carrier with precariously low cash reserves.

IndiGo, on the other hand, last week said a majority of its employees will get full salary for April, “in deference to our government’s wishes of not reducing pay during lockdown.”

Captain Gurcharan Arora, SpiceJet’s chief of flight operations, wrote to pilots saying: “We will not be getting any salary for April and May 2020. Those of us who have been flying cargo, will get paid for the block hours flown … we are geared up and ready to appropriately increase our flights in harmony with the gradual lifting of flight restrictions by the government.”

“As of today, 16% of our aircraft and 20% of our pilots are flying. We are doing this by flying our five cargo aircraft and also flying more ‘cargo on seat’ on our passenger aircraft. Over the coming weeks, we intend to increase the number of aircraft flying (cargo + cargo on seat) to more than 50% and the number of Pilots flying to 100%. Our rostering team will ensure that all of us get to fly these aircraft. So while the flying will be limited, we will ensure that all of us are current and our skills stay intact,” Captain Arora’s mail says.

Air India pilots had last week complained that flying allowances — which comprise 70% of their pay — for the month of February had not been paid to them. And the remaining 30% payment of February made to them had come with a 10% Covid pay cut. AI unions in a joint letter to aviation minister H S Puri last Friday protested against the “unilateral pay cut imposed for three months against government instructions.”Ironically, heeding the PM’s advice, IndiGo has reversed its decision to cut April salary to a majority of its employees while state-owned AI — whose employees are being widely hailed as “corona warriors” did the opposite.

“… The management of Air India defaulted on timely payment of salary which was paid on April 18, 2020, with a 10% pay cut. The flying crew are yet to receive 70% of their wages for the work done in the month of February 2020,” the joint representation by unions of pilots, engineers and others, says.

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