The national carrier Air India has instituted a ‘leave without pay(LWP)’ scheme under which employees are allowed to take leaves from six months to five years.
It also announced that the airline management can also send some staffers depending on their suitability, efficiency and health.
Rajiv Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, has been assigned to send employees on LWP “for six months or for a period of two years extendable up to five years, depending upon the following factors – suitability, efficiency, competence, quality of performance, health of the employee, instance of non-availability of the employee for duty in the past as a result of ill health or otherwise and redundancy”, the official order said on Tuesday.
Air India currently has 13,000 permanent employees whose monthly wages costs Rs 230 crore to the company. With flights being suspended since months in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the airline is suffering major loss.
Now, both the regional directors and headquarters’ departmental heads are ordered to compile a list of names for complusory LWP by August 15.
Just like any other industry, the aviation industry is suffering major financial crunch amid the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, in April, GoAir also announced that it will be sending majority of its employees on LWP.
Meanwhile, India has resumed flights or domestic passengers from May 25 with added safety measures. Only 45 percent of pre-covid domestic flights have been allowed to operate. However, international passengers flight continues to be banned in India since the first lockdown which was enforced on March 23.
