Quick on the heels of the emotional outcry from Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal, while taking the 1,900 sacked employees back, the Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines on Saturday slashed salaries of its 50 trainee co-pilots and said the company would not be sacking them.
The company spokesperson clarified, ?With a view to tide 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 the emoluments of a small pool of 50 trainee co-pilots.?
This move had to be undertaken to get some cost rationalisation, said the spokesperson. ?The airline had to resort to this move as some of its aircraft have been grounded,? he added. Shrugging off doubts about, Jet-Airways-like retrenchment plan, Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya , earlier in the week, had categorically mentioned that the airline did not have excess employees and hence no retrenchment was on the anvil.
The spokesperson clarified that this move was not a retrenchment and that they would continue to remain employees. ?They will all continue to enjoy and be able to avail of full benefits and privileges that are available to employees of the company such as medical and travel benefits,? the spokesperson added. Line pilots and commanders of flights, have, however, been exempted from this move, the official said.
However, the extent of the salary cut and its impact on the company?s balance sheet is not known at the moment. A section from the financial community reckon that this move, along with that of Jet Airways and Air India, is to seek the government?s attention on the woes faced by the bleeding airline industry and to seek sops.