India’s largest airline IndiGo has increased the salaries of its pilots by 8 percent. Airlines say that at present it is seeing improvement in traffic, due to which this decision has been taken. Along with this, IndiGo has also restored the overtime allowance of pre-Covid level for pilots.
Along with this, to increase the use of aircraft, the company is restoring a work pattern for pilots, under which pilots will earn more, but leave will be less. For July 2022, the airline has budgeted an average of 1550 flights per day under which an aircraft will be used for approximately 13 hours.
8 percent hike in salary: IndiGo had cut the salaries of pilots by 28 percent in 2020. Changing this in April, the airline announced an 8 per cent hike in wages. In such a situation, even after the increase of 8 percent on Thursday (7 July 2022), the salary of pilots is still 16 percent less than their pre-covid level.
In fact, the salary of pilots has become a matter of discussion for IndiGo airline as the pilots are unhappy with their pre-covid salary not being fully restored. Pilots are dissatisfied despite the pay hike partly as IndiGo currently operates over 1,600 flights per day, which is higher than the pre-Covid level.
Disgruntled employees: On July 2, 2022, IndiGo faced delays in operations of more than half of its flights as a large number of cabin crew members took leave after reporting ill. According to the report, the crew members had gone for job interviews elsewhere. According to sources, the second phase of Air India’s recruitment drive was conducted on July 2 and most of the cabin crew members went for it.
With airlines needing to operate more flights as demand for air travel increases, pilots are demanding an increase in pay cuts and removal of pay cuts. Pilots of all airlines remain dissatisfied, despite a partial increase in pay. The Tata Group, the new owner of Air India, has also reinstated the deduction up to 75 per cent, which was taking place since the time of COVID-19. Another Tata Group airline Vistara has restored the salaries and flying allowances of its pilots to the pre-Covid level.