Air India defends differential pay cut for senior pilots and management

A day after Air India’s (AI) senior pilots expressed discontent over the differences in pay cuts for pilots and senior management, the national carrier on Thursday

A day after Air India’s (AI) senior pilots expressed discontent over the differences in pay cuts for pilots and senior management, the national carrier on Thursday defended its decision saying wages would later be reviewed in accordance with the airline’s improved financial condition.

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In a tweet, after a review meeting with the ministry of civil aviation, Air India said the move to rationalise wages has been taken due to the impact of Covid-19 on the airline’s finances.

One of the airline’s three tweets read, “Recent decisions of Air India board regarding rationalisation of staff cost were reviewed in a meeting at @MoCA_goi this evening. The meeting reiterated that unlike other carriers which have laid off large number of their employees, no employee of Air India will be laid off.”

On July 22, HT had reported on claims made by senior pilots that salaries of top AI officials have been reduced by a smaller percentage, as compared to their own. The pay of AI pilots have been reduced by 60% on an average — 40% on salary and 85% on flying allowances — owing to the unilaterally applied new wage structure, in addition to implementing leave without pay policy for employees. The airline management, on the other hand, has taken a 50% cut on just their allowances.

The national carrier said they had not deducted basic salaries for any employee. “There has been no reduction in the basic pay, DA and HRA of any category of employees. The rationalisation of allowances had to be implemented on account of the difficult financial condition of the airline that were exacerbated by COVID-19. (sic)”

“Flying crew will be paid as per the actual number of hours flown. As domestic and international operations expand to reach pre-Covid levels and the financial position of Air India improves, the rationalisation of allowances will be reviewed,” the national carrier concluded.

The airline, however, did not comment on pay cuts of its management officials.

“Our question still remains unanswered: How much pay cut is being given to management officials, and why are they not charged on their major component of the salaries instead of allowances, which barely contributes to their total salary,” said a senior pilot.

Mumbai-based Executive Pilots Association (EPA), a union comprising senior-most pilots flying long (more than seven hours) and ultra-long flights (for more than 12 hours), wrote to civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday that the decisions are adversely impacting the morale of pilots.

“The recent decision of the management adopting compulsory leave without pay (LWP) model as well as the massive wage cut of the employees/pilots’ emoluments has led to serious discontentment and heart burn among the entire workforce,” read the letter.

They also pointed out that decisions related to LWP scheme and wage reduction have been made without consent of any unions.

The airline has been facing backlash for its imbalanced pay cuts for flying crew and management officials. Airline employees from various departments, including engineering and ground staff, have written letters to the airline management on the LWP scheme.