Air India pilots on rescue missions face 40% pay cut

Air India pilots on rescue missions face 40% pay cut

Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 29.07.2020

Air India pilots, who have been manning the Vande Bharat mission flights despite the health risk posed by Covid-19, have been forced to appeal to the ministry of civil aviation against the decision to cut allowances, including flying allowance, which form around 80% of their pay.

Pilots will lose around 40% of 11 allowances which are being given to them ,with some having lost almost ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh a month.

A senior pilot said the pay cut has had a negative impact on the morale of pilots who are operating flights amid the pandemic and undergo quarantine periods and repeated swab tests.

“Flying during the pandemic means that pilots have to go into quarantine after returning from abroad and can go home only after test results are negative. There is still a worry whether they will be infecting their family members,” the senior pilot said. Air India has operated around 130 Vande Bharat flights to Chennai airport so far.

“The move will have a tremendous impact on the pilots and can affect the safety of passengers,” said former pilot and air safety expert Mohan Ranganathan. “The airline is also violating key principles of fixing allowances decided around 30 years ago. A special grade was created and allowances were given to pilots following a meeting between the employees and the management. Pilots work round the year, cannot take weekends off and have to work through public holidays unlike other employees. The allowances were allotted to compensate for that. The money is high because pilots stand to lose everything if they have to be grounded.”

Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots Guild on Monday sent a letter to the ministry of civil aviation asking for an appointment to explain the situation.

“The current industry standard in India is a cut of 15% to 23% on gross salary that is cost-to-company. However, Air India management is trying to show cost cutting by slashing cherrypicked allowances instead of a fair cut on gross wages,” Captain T Praveen Keerthi of ICPA said.

Indian Commercial Pilots Association and Indian Pilots Guild on Monday sent a letter to the ministry of civil aviation asking for an appointment to explain the situation