Air Deccan ceases its operations, all employees put on sabbatical without pay

NEW DELHI: Regional airliner Air Deccan announced on Sunday that it is ceasing its operations until further notice and all employees are being put on sabbatical without pay amid coronavirus pandemic.
The airline’s CEO A K Singh in a mail to employees said following the move to stop schedule passenger operations during the lockdown, “Air Deccan has no choice but to cease its operations until further notice. With heavy heart, I am also compelled to inform that all existing employees of Air Deccan (permanent, temporary and contractual) are being put on sabbatical without pay with immediate effect.”
Even before the 21-day lockdown, Air Deccan was not in the pink of health in terms of passenger operations. DGCA’s provisional data shows it operated 996 flights in 2018, flying 7,635 passengers that year. In 2019 and January and February of 2020, DGCA data shows, it operated very few flights and had a very high flight cancellation rate.