KOLKATA: On the 22nd of March, PM Modi announced a nationwide lock-down, in an effort to prevent rapid outbreaks of Coronavirus. This move effectively grounded all commercial flights across India.
Now, with the extension of lock-down in effect, sources are saying that SpiceJet has decided to send employees, earning more than ₹50,000/month, on leave, without pay. This arrangement would be in place for three months, they added.
Earlier, the budget carrier had sent employees on leave without pay from March 25 to 31.
These sources also pointed out that the salary, for the month of April, is likely to be paid to staff, for the days they were on duty.
However, responding to the story, SpiceJet stated that no company-wide decision has been taken on the issue of salary cuts or leave without pay, for the month of April 2020. A limited number of staff from the engineering team has been put on leave without pay, for a month each, on rotational basis.
According to Kinjal Shah, Vice President at ICRA, air carriers, all across India, will report a net loss of ~₹75-90 crore per day. Now, with Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, directing them to open bookings only after the government takes a decision on starting domestic and international commercial passenger flight services, these airline companies are scrambling to conserve costs.
This SpiceJet decision follows the one made by the Wadia family-owned GoAir to conserve costs. In a letter from a senior GoAir human resources executive, its 5,500-odd employees were informed, “The lock-down has been further extended till May 3, and with this extension, our fleet continues to be completely grounded. Hence, we are constrained to request you to proceed on ‘leave without pay’ till May 3.”
Earlier this month, Air India had temporarily suspended the contracts of around 200 employees including pilots, who were re-employed after retirement. The national carrier has also cut the allowances of all employees, except cabin crew, by 10% for the next 3 months, in order to curtail spending, during this time of crisis.