Vistara airlines CEO Leslie Thng on Tuesday announced its decision on sending its senior employees on leave without pay for up to four days for the months of May and June. The decision was taken as a measure to conserve the airline's cash flow during the economic crisis due to the ongoing nation-wide lockdown.
Vistara or the Tata SIA Airlines Limited is a full-service Indian airline based in Gurgaon.
According to Vistara, all its employees except pilots have to accept the compulsory no-pay leave. "With the latest lockdown extension, our operations continue to be suspended until the date, prolonging the period of no-revenues as well," said an airline spokesperson.
"For the months of May and June, Vistara's senior staff will take compulsory no-pay leave of one to four days in each of the two months, depending on employment grades (four days for senior-most employees). The monthly base flying allowance for pilots has been reduced to 20 hours for these two months, and adjustments will be made to their monthly remunerations accordingly," he added.
1,200 employees to be affected
The compulsory no-pay leave will affect around 1,200 senior employees in the airline company. Meanwhile, the remaining 2,800 employees of the airline will remain unaffected, says the authorities. This includes the cabin crew and the ground handling services.
According to Thng, "We will continue with the difficult decision to reduce staff costs to preserve jobs." This will therefore lead to the compulsory no pay leave (CNPL) for all staff, except for pilots and staff in Level 1A and 1B for the months of May and June.
He also mentioned that the staff in Level 2 and 3 will have to go on three days CNPL per month, while the staff in Level 1C to go on 1 day CNPL per month.
In addition to this, Vistara has also reduced the monthly base flying allowance for pilots to 20 hours per month.
The ban on domestic and international flights were also extended concomitant to the extension of the national lockdown. Only the cargo flights were allowed to service. This ban has heavily affected the major airlines across the nations all the while.
Vistara has also joined the freight service since April. The airline has operated more than 20 cargo flights using Boeing B787-9 and carried nearly 140 tonnes of commercial and relief cargo amid the pandemic crisis.
As a measure to preserve jobs and conserve cash flow, the airline had started to send its employees in CNPL for days since April says the reports.
Related
