- Vistara reported on Tuesday a pay cut of about 40 percent of its workers between five and 20 percent until December due to pandemic.
Vistara reported on Tuesday a pay cut of about 40 percent of its workers between five and 20 percent until December this year as cash flow continues to be adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The full-service carrier is employing more than 4,000 people on its payroll. “The pay reduction will not impact about 60 percent of our workers,” a Vistara spokesperson said.
Vistara CEO Leslie Thng told employees in an email: “From 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020, I will take a 20% pay cut and we will implement a monthly salary reduction scheme for employees (except pilots as follows)
1) 15% pay cut for employees at levels 5 and 4; 2) 10% pay cut for employees at levels 3 and 2 and licensed engineers at level 1C; 3) 5% pay cut for employees at level 1 with a monthly CTC equal to or greater than Rs 50,000.
“We will continue to reduce the monthly base flying allowance to 20 hours for pilots for July through December 2020. Allowances for pilots within other training categories would also be changed, “he said. Vistara’s pilots had been receiving the base flying allowance, which is a fixed component of the salary, for 70 hours per month until April.
Thng told employees that the airline operates on less than 30 percent of its original network and that the passenger loads on its flights are also not as strong as they were before the lockdown caused by coronavirus.
“COVID-19 will continue to negatively impact our financial results as travel trust and demand will take some time to completely recover to pre-COVID-19 level,” he said. Thng had reported on May 5 that senior workers would have to go on mandatory unpaid leave (LWP) in May and June for up to four days per month. For up to six days in April, Vistara had sent the same set of senior staff on compulsory LWP.
India has resumed its domestic passenger flights on May 25, after two months. Scheduled international passenger flights throughout the country continue to be suspended. The pandemic has struck the aviation sector hard and all India’s airlines have resorted to cost-cutting steps such as pay cuts to survive the crisis.
The Vistara spokesman said on Tuesday, “The ongoing pandemic continues to hurt our financial performance as we operate on a significantly reduced network since the resumption of domestic flights amid low demand.”
“Vistara is making every effort to save more than 4,000 of its people jobs while preserving cash and pursuing a reduction in operational expenditure, which includes personnel costs,” the spokesman said.
