Shocking news for the fliers! Jet Airways may shut after 60 days; staffers asked for heavy pay cuts, claims report

In a shocking news for fliers, India's largest full-service carrier Jet Airways Ltd can survive only 60 days and the officials have asked its staffs to cut down pay scale in salary. A senior company executive told Reuters on Friday, that the airline may be grounded in 60 days unless cost-cutting measures including pay cuts will be made in staffs salary.

On Wednesday, the top officials including the chairman, Naresh Goyal met pilots and stakeholders to discuss the future course of action to revive the airline. However, the pilots have denied a proposed 15 per cent cut in their salary for two years, that had been informed to them as the airline was running out of time to slash costs and raise revenue, the source said.

The company reportedly was looking at sales and distribution, payroll, maintenance and other areas for savings to create a “healthier and a more resilient business”, a company spokesman said in a statement. Jet Airways is looking for working capital loans but banks want the airline to show a turnaround commitment, the source said, adding that salary reduction was part of the same issue.

“There are some job losses across verticals but not among pilots,” the source added, declining to be named as the talks with staff were private.

When contacted, Jet issued a statement, "In line with its stated focus of creating a healthier and a more resilient business, Jet Airways has been implementing several measures to help it reduce cost as well as realise higher revenues, for desired business efficiencies. Some of these include sales and distribution, payroll, and maintenance, among many others. As part of this approach, the airline management is in dialogue with key stakeholders to enlist their full support and cooperation for realising necessary savings across all parts of the business."

The statement further said, "The airline is committed to creating a growth-oriented, sustainable future, and a revitalized guest experience armed with the addition of 225 B737 MAX fuel-efficient aircraft which will be inducted in its fleet over the next decade, and of which, 11 are slated to join within this financial year. The airline refutes and strongly condemns the speculative comments of/from certain vested interests, who are making deliberate attempts to undermine Jet Airways transformation efforts."

Reportedly, Jet Airways in July 2017 asked dozens of junior pilots to take 30-50 per cent salary and stipend cuts or quit, sources had told Reuters.