Last Updated : Sep 20, 2020 09:00 PM IST | Source: PTI

Vistara CEO Leslie Thng says no layoffs; salary cuts to be reviewed in January 2021

Domestic airlines industry has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent suspension of local and international flight services.

PTI

Vistara, which has implemented various cost-saving measures amid the coronavirus pandemic, will review salary cuts in January but has not laid off any of its nearly 4,000 employees, according to the airline’s chief.

Domestic airlines industry has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent suspension of local and international flight services.

Vistara's Chief Executive Officer Leslie Thng told PTI that there have been no job cuts at the airline in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more
How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more
Show

related news

"There have been no job cuts at Vistara, and therefore, the staff strength remains the same as earlier – nearly 4,000 employees," he said in an e-mail interview.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

Many airlines globally as well as some domestic carriers have resorted to salary cuts as well as layoffs and furloughs in efforts to reduce expenses due to challenging business conditions.

When asked about future plans regarding employees, Leslie Thng said salary cuts will be reviewed in January next year.

"With the intent of protecting all jobs at Vistara, we have had to make the difficult decision of reducing some staff costs by implementing salary cuts. This will continue to be in effect until December 2020 and will be reviewed in January 2021," he said.

Scheduled commercial flights were suspended from March 25 to May 24 while scheduled international services continue to remain suspended since March 23.

However, select overseas flight services to certain countries under bilateral air bubble agreements as well as cargo and other flights approved by aviation regulator DGCA are operating.

A full-service carrier, Vistara is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tatas.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.
First Published on Sep 20, 2020 04:45 pm