By IANS,
New Delhi : Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal is slated to meet pilots and other officials Monday to discuss cost-cutting measures, including salary cut and non-renewal of contractual agreements with expatriate pilots, an airline official said Sunday.
“The Jet chief will meet pilots and other airline officials tomorrow to discuss cost-cutting measures. The decision on salary cuts will be announced after the meeting,” the Jet official told IANS requesting anonymity.
He said the chief executive officer of the company will lead the way by taking 25 percent salary reduction.
The company has also decided not to renew the contractual agreements with expatriate pilots once these expired, the official added.
However, A.K. Shivanandan, senior general manager of public relations of sister airlines JetLite, said he was not aware of the development.
Meanwhile, sources said Jet management was unlikely to reach an agreement with the pilots in Monday’s meeting as they would refuse any pay cut suggestion.
The pilots have demanded the Jet management sack expatriate pilots, who are normally paid more than their Indian counterparts, to cut costs.
The company’s decision comes close on the heels of its chairman’s remarks that Jet was already “over-staffed and reeling under heavy losses”.
Reacting to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel’s request to airlines to cut fares, Goyal Saturday said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here that the aviation companies “cannot take a hit on our bottomline by trimming airfare”.
“If we continue losing, no bank will give us money,” he added.
Last month, Jet had sacked some 850 employees following a mega alliance with another private airline major Kingfisher Airlines. But the carrier later reinstated all the sacked employees under government pressure.