In a letter, to employees on Tuesday, seen by BusinessLine, Hyderabad-based airline Trujet said the Covid-19 pandemic has very severely hit the aviation industry. The airline, in the letter, said it is “facing serious financial crunch/cash flow situation”.
A fortnight ago, BusinessLine had reported that lessors of the low-cost carrier had grounded five out of seven aircraft over unpaid dues, according to sources.
Trujet has aircraft of the ATR family in its fleet. Two aircraft belong to DAE, a Dubai-based aircraft leasing company, while the other three are owned by Elix, a Dublin-based aircraft leasing company.
“Though Trujet Management is liberal in paying full salaries in the month of March 2020 & April 2020, a slight reduction in May 2020 & June 2020, but going forward, we need to take tough decisions, though it is unpleasant, in the interest of the survival of the company.”
Considering various aspects, the TruJet management has decided “to implement salary reduction for reduction in gross salary above ₹15001 to ₹10,00,000: 50 per cent. ₹2,10,00,001 & above 60 per cent with effect from July 26.”
The air travel was banned completely between March 24 and May 25 to curb the spread of the virus. Post-lockdown, TruJet commenced operations but due to airport restrictions, state government health regulations and other constraints, “we are forced to cut down our operation,” it said in its letter.
Load factor dips sharply
“As against 60 flights a day with an average of 70 per cent load factor, we have come down to 22-23 per cent. Under these circumstances, we have no option but to reduce our overall cost for our survival.”
In June, Trujet had a 0.8 per cent market share, and it carried 0.15 per cent out of the 19.84 lakh fliers. Trujet also had the highest complaints among all private carriers.
It said that there is no clarity as to when the pandemic will be controlled and as per health and industry experts, “it may take at least 12 to 18 months to recover fully,” the letter said which was signed by Sanjay Rastogi, GM, and HR at TruJet.
The airline said that it will keep its employees posted about their further plans as and when there is clarity.