One of the largest private airlines, IndiGo, has deepened its pay cuts up to 35 per cent for its senior employees and pilots. This move has come a week after the company released a statement which said that it will lay off a tenth of its staff to reduce the cash flow amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to PTI, Indigo CEO Ronojoy Dutta told employees, “I will increase my personal pay cut percentage to 35 per cent. I am asking all senior vice presidents and above to take a 30 per cent pay cut, all pilots will see their pay cut percentages increased to 28 per cent, all vice presidents will take a 25 per cent pay cut and associate vice presidents will take a 15 per cent pay cut.”
He also mentioned that the increased pay cut will come into force from September 1.
These additional salary cuts are mostly targeted at the company’s top management like CEO, senior vice-president, vice presidents and senior pilots.
Earlier in May, IndiGo had cut the salaries of Band D employee and cabin crew members by 10 per cent, and Band C employees by 5 per cent. While no cuts were announced for Band B and Band A. The new pay cuts will not affect the Band D and Band C employees. Moreover, no pay cut for Band B and Band A employee has been announced.
IndiGo had also implemented a leave-without-pay(LWP) scheme with five days per month for all its employees until July to save on costs amid the pandemic. In August, the LWP was increased to 10.5 days per month.
The reduction in cash flow at IndiGo amid suspension on traveling had affected crude oil prices and forced buisness across industries to cut operations.
Earlier, the company has reported a net loss of Rs 871 crore for the quarter ended in March, amid a nearly 76 per cent surge in repair and maintenance expenses.
The domestic airline industry is expected to have incurred losses of $3.0 billion-$3.6 billion in the June quarter, with the aviation industry hit the hardest amid the coronavirus pandemic.
