Over 30 pilots who had resigned from Jet Airways, country?s oldest private airline, are in a Catch-22 situation. These pilots, who joined Gulf-based Qatar Airways in the past few months, have now been asked to produce an NOC (no objection certificate) by the national airline of Qatar . A pilot who had resigned from Jet a month ago said, ?When we signed the contract with Qatar, we were not asked to submit an NOC. However, now the airline wants the document which Jet is unwilling to give unless we serve a six month notice period. It?s not fair and square for the airline to deny us the document.
Meanwhile a Jet spokesperson said, ?This is an internal matter and we do not wish to comment on the same.? Navin Chawla, regional manager, India at Qatar Airways said, ?Whenever any pilot or a cabin crew joins our airline, they are asked to submit certain important documents. This is a standard procedure.?
Ironically, the pilots had exited from Jet because they were consistently asked to accept a 25% pay cut on their basic salary. The pilots had earlier too approached the licensing authority?directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA)?to look into the matter of pilots serving a mandatory six-month notice period. The pilots told the DGCA they are seeking the waiver as the airline has already breached their contracts by altering some service conditions including changes in the salary structure. These pilots had then put in their papers for better prospects, but the airline was not relieving them, citing the 6-month notice clause. ?Jet wants us to serve a six month notice to get the NOC,? complained the pilot.
When Jet posted a net profit of Rs 53 crore for Q4 of FY09, it had said that a slew of cost cutting measures that helped the carrier post positive results. Though the company posted a net loss of Rs 961 crore as against Rs 653 crore, it said that its employee remunerations ,selling and distrubtion costs, and lease rentals have collectively come down to Rs 2,402 crore for FY09 as against Rs 2,946 crore.