The management of Jet Airways on Thursday continued its interaction with employees, seeking their support to help the company by taking pay cuts so that the airline could realise necessary savings and create a healthier and a more resilient business.
The talks are being led by chairman Naresh Goyal and CEO Vinay Dube, CFO Amit Agarwal and chief people officer Rahul Taneja. After an interaction with pilots in Mumbai on Wednesday, the team was in Delhi on Thursday, where they held a round of discussions with pilots. A similar exercise will be carried out with aircraft maintenance engineers as well.
A senior Boeing 777 pilot who attended the meeting said that the management sought their support to ‘chip-in’, which would require them to take pay cuts for the next four quarters at the very least. “They sought our support in executing a plan to make the airline financially stronger. The pilots too had several questions. These included questions on seven-year bonds signed by first officers being relaxed and the issue of notice period for pilots, which is already sub judice in the Delhi High Court,” said a pilot.
A Jet Airways spokesperson said that in line with its stated focus of creating a healthier and a more resilient business, the airline had 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 spokesperson said that the airline was committed to create a growth-oriented, sustainable future, and a revitalised guest experience armed with the addition of 225, Boeing 737 MAX fuel-efficient aircraft, which would be inducted in its fleet over the next decade. Of these, 11 are slated to join within the current 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,” the spokesperson said.