Jet Airways proposes to slash salaries by up to 25% amid efforts to cut costs; pilots, engineers say unacceptable

Mumbai: Battling financial woes, Jet Airways has proposed up to 25 percent pay cut for employees but the proposal has been rejected by pilots and engineers, sources said. Sources said the full-service carrier is in discussions with certain sections of employees on the salary cut proposal, which has been mooted amid efforts to save costs. Jet Airways has more than 16,000 employees. The Naresh Goyal-led airline, in which Gulf carrier Etihad holds 24 percent stake, has already slashed by 25 percent the salaries of its senior management, one of the sources told PTI in Mumbai. Senior management executives are those holding general manager post and above level positions. At a meeting held with Jet Airways’ CEO Vinay Dube in Mumbai this evening, pilots made it clear that the proposed pay cut was not acceptable. [caption id=“attachment_3175202” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “Last week, Jet Airways management held a meeting with the airline’s pilots union National Aviator’s Guild (NAG) and sought its cooperation with respect to proposed salary cuts,” another source said. The management had told the pilots that they should go along with engineers and other employees by taking a 25 percent wage cut due to the prevailing financial health, the source added. As the union outrightly rejected the proposal, sources said the management decided to talk to the pilots separately and had called for Wednesday’s meeting of all its Mumbai-based pilots. “However, the pilots reiterated the position taken by the union,” one of the sources said. Engineers have also rejected the salary cut proposal, they added. Queries sent to Jet Airways Deputy CEO and CFO Amit Agarwal, and an airline spokesperson on the issue did not elicit any response. Another round of meeting with pilots is likely to be held tomorrow in the national capital, the sources said. Jet Airways – which completed 25 years of operations earlier this year – had 16,558 permanent employees as on 31 March, 2018. Besides, there were a total of 6,306 temporary /casual employees, as per the airline’s annual report for 2017-18.