NEW DELHI: Air India (AI) has cut the pay of its cockpit and cabin crew with retrospective effect from April 1, 2020, till further orders. While the cash-strapped airline management says the reduction is about 40%, crew member say the same is much higher with pilots saying the cut is almost 85%. AI has a monthly wage bill of Rs 230 crore and did not say how much it expected to save from the this move.
“As per the directions of the aviation ministry and approval of the board of directors of AI, it has been decided to rationalise the allowances of employees,” says an office order issued by AI GM (industrial relations) Meenakshi Kashyap.
Employees with gross monthly salary of Rs 25,000 have been spared any cut. For pilots, the order says 11 allowances — that comprise majority of the total pay — like flying allowance, special pay, wide body allowance, check allowance and instructor/examiner allowance have been cut by 40%.
“Flying allowance to be paid on actual hours flown by an individual pilot in a month. However, as a special case, all pilots available for flying will be paid fixed 20 hours of flying allowance or actuals, whichever is higher in a month, during Q1 & 2 of financial year 2020-21 on revised flying allowance rate,” the order says.
