90% pay cuts for Kingfisher trainee pilots

90% pay cuts for Kingfisher trainee pilots

 

Senior Pilots Face Cutbacks Too

 

Manju V | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

 

Mumbai: After Jet Airways, it’s now the turn of Kingfisher Airlines employees to face the heat. The airline has lined up a host of cost-cutting measures, a majority of which involves drastic salary cuts. The most affected will be the new lot of trainee co-pilots who not only have to go back to their stipend pay, but also be prepared for an uncertain future.
   A cost modelling study has shown that the airline has surplus pilots, athough the exact figure isn’t yet known. Unlike in the case of Jet Airways, the surplus pilots also include senior commanders on wide-bodied aircraft.
   “About 70 trainee pilots’ monthly salaries stand to come down from Rs 1.95 lakh (newly endorsed ATR/A320 pilots) and Rs 90,000 (trainees on probation) to a stipend of Rs 20,000 per month,’’ said an airline official who did not wish to be named.
   The cost-cutting will not be limited to the junior pilots and is slated to go all the way up to the wide-bodied A340 pilots as well. “About 14 commanders and 30 first officers who have been trained and endorsed on A340 aicraft will be losing Rs 1.20 lakh each from their monthly salaries as they will be moved down to the singleaisle 320 aircraft. Had they been allowed to continue on the A340, they would have drawn Rs 60,000 more per month after their endorsement and another Rs 60,000 after completing 500 hours of flying on the A340,’’ the official added.
   The airline, which was to launch its international operations in a big way this year, has scaled down its plans, leading to a surplus of senior pilots. “A hundred senior pilots trained on the A330 and A340 have been on the ground for the last seven months. They are being paid their salaries,’’ said an official.
   While no official letters have been sent out, officials say the final equations in the cost-cutting exercise will emerge soon. Although the Kingfisher spokesperson did not comment on the specifics of the exercise, a statement issued by the airline on Friday confirmed the salary cuts. “With a view to tiding over the ongoing turbulence in the aviation industry and keeping in mind the reduction in capacity deployed, Kingfisher Airlines has effected a downward revision in emoluments of a small pool of 50 trainee co-pilots. These trainee co-pilots will continue to remain on the payroll of the company and will all continue to enjoy and be able to avail of the full benefits and privileges that are available to employees of the company,’’ said the airline in its statement.

Slide in number of domestic fliers

Saurabh Sinha | TNN
   Rising fares have forced people in the metros and in big cities that have international airports, like Ahmedabad and Jaipur, to cut down on domestic air travel. Data compiled by the Airports Authority of India for July shows that the number of domestic fliers has nosedived in 25 big cities compared to the statistics available for July of last year. In Mumbai, the downturn is as much as 16.7%.In fact, DGCA figures for September show that domestic air travel has hit a five-year low of 27.19 lakh. P 8

‘Airline waiting to take tough decisions’


   It may be recalled that a couple of months back, Kingfisher Airlines had terminated the services of 300 of its employees from the non-operations area. “After the Jet Airways lay-off drama, salary cuts will find acceptance, though only grudgingly,’’ sources said, commenting on the general mood among cockpit crew.
   But what is of greater concern, according to airline sources, is the talk that the airline is just buying time to assess its financial burden before it takes tough decisions regarding surplus staff. “The newly endorsed pilots on A320s for instance have been told that they have an option to leave if they want to or continue with the stipend for a year. The company has decided to let go the costs incurred on their type-training, which works out to about Rs 25 lakh for one A320 endorsement. But in the present circumstances, it would be difficult to find another job,’’ said an airline source. “If the pilots decide to stay back then they will face the possibility of being sacked after a year or so if the company still finds them to among the surplus crew,’’ he added.
   There is distress among Kingfisher’s senior pilots as well. “The management has been giving preference to the senior pilots who came in from other airlines. They get picked up for A 340/330 endorsement and training much faster than those who have been with the airline since its inception. Loyalty is not rewarded here,’’ a senior pilot said.