With the aviation sector taking one of the hardest hits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SpiceJet on Tuesday announced a pay cut of 10-30% for all top and mid rung employees for March. Pay of people in the lowest rung has not been cut. Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh will be taking a 30% cut in salary.
This is apart from the airline giving employees being leave without pay from March 25-31 — for when flights were suspended due to the lockdown.
“However, employees who have been actively working during this period like our cargo, ground staff, crew who have flown during this time will not be affected by the ‘leave without pay’ and their salaries for this period will be reimbursed,” Spicejet said.
Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have forced us to take some tough measures to ensure that no one at SpiceJet is retrenched. What we are facing is a global phenomenon and no airline in the world is immune to the impact”.
SpiceJet’s move comes after IndiGo, GoAir and Air India instituted varying degrees of pay cuts.
GoAir had said that the quantum of reduction varies in scale for various grades of employees with the least burden being put on the lowest salary earning category in the company. On March 17, the airline announced that it had initiated a short term rotational leave without pay programme. The airline had earlier said that its top management's pay will be reduced by 50% during this period.
On March 19, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta announced that the airline was instituting pay cuts for senior employees and he would himself take the highest cut of 25%. "With a great deal of reluctance and a deep sense of regret, we are therefore instituting pay cuts for all employees, excluding Bands A and B, starting April 1, 2020," the CEO said. Band A and B are the lowest brackets in salary class.
"I am personally taking a 25 per cent pay cut, SVPs (senior vice presidents) and above are taking 20 per cent, VPs (vice presidents) and cockpit crew are taking a 15 per cent pay cut, AVPs (assistant vice presidents), Bands D along with cabin crew will take 10 per cent and Band Cs five per cent," Dutta noted.
Air India also decided to reduce 10% of allowances paid to all employees, except cabin crew, for a period of three months starting March 2020 to tide over the economic fallout.