Air India pilots seek full layover allowance and on time

The pilots have not even been paid the deducted amount from five months even as they have also faced pay cuts

Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), the Boeing pilots’ union of Air India, on Thursday wrote to the airline’s operations head seeking reinstatement of the layover allowance cut by around 70% at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The allowance is over and above the salary that pilots get during a layover to cover the expenses. The pilots have not even been paid the deducted amount from five months even as they have also faced pay cuts. They added the last layover sustenance allowance was paid in May 2021.

The last layover sustenance allowance was paid in May 2021. (HT PHOTO)

“As we commence the month of October and as pilots proceed on assigned international layovers, our members who man the widebody fleet are most affected and are now forced to fend for themselves abroad with no financial support whatsoever from the company. We are over four months delayed on the layover sustenance allowance (LSA) and for some time now, we have been forced to spend from our savings to sustain our stay abroad,” the IPG said in its letter.

It added they will continue to cooperate with the company in its difficult phase and hence request that the matter be urgently taken up at the earliest. Air India pilots have earlier raised the issue of pay cuts and highlighted the mental stress it was causing.