Jet pilots, engineers to get salaries in instalments

Amid reports of non-cooperation by pilots and engineers over delayed payments, Jet Airways said on Thursday it would pay 50 per cent of the salary by September 11 and the remainder by August 26.

“The salary for general managers and above, cockpit crew and aircraft maintenance engineers shall be disbursed in two instalments. For the month of September and October the same disbursement schedule shall be followed,” the airline’s chief people officer, Rahul Taneja, wrote in an email to employees on Thursday. Salaries to all other employees were paid at the start of month.

The airline’s senior management has taken 5-25 per cent pay-cut but salary cuts for pilots and engineers were put on hold because of protests. The airline posted ~13 billion first-quarter loss amid increasing costs and pressure on revenue.

Jet had a wage bill of over ~31 billion in FY18. Pilots make up little more than 10 per cent of airline's 16,000 employee force but account for about half of its salary bill. “Withholding salaries, that too without prior notice, is a serious matter and the management will bear sole responsibility for any repercussions,” Jet’s pilots said in a communication to the management earlier this week. “We would like to advice that failure to address the above points and not paying thes alaries on time would lead to non-cooperation by pilots,” they warned.

“(Earlier) it was agreed that, henceforth, salaries would be paid on time and, if there were to be a delay, the same would be communicat---