IPO-bound Go First, has effected salary cuts for its employees by another 20 per cent from next month.
This is in addition to 10-30 per cent pay cut announced by the airline earlier.
A company source told BusinessLine that in the current scenario, Go First is operating only 5-10 per cent of its entire fleet, losing close to ₹10 crore on a daily basis. Alongside, it has extended leave without pay (LWP) for trainee first officers (TFOs) until further notice.
The Wadia-owned airline had also asked its TFOs to pay ₹30 lakh for their training or resign. But on Saturday, the company revoked this order.
A TFO, BusinessLine spoke to, said that top management had a video call with at least 100 TFOs who were employed between 2018 and 2020. “During the meeting, we were told that all TFO’s have to pay ₹30 lakh to Go First if we wanted to continue our training and have our job secured.”
Traning fee
According to industry experts, the TFOs have to pay a fee for training, however, this fee is deducted from their salaries on a monthly basis. This move did not go well with the pilots. In a letter to the company’s CEO, Kaushik Khona, the TFOs wrote that it was unjust of the company to demand money from employees who were anyway on LWP for over a year now.
“We have always supported the company by doing the work which was not in our profile such as filling PSRs at dispatch, Distributing EFB iPads, Updating training files at WIC for audits, doing Seat Support at last-minute pull-outs.”
Sources said that Khona responded to the TFOs and said that it was a “misunderstanding,” and that no such proposal was made. He even agreed to virtually meet the TFOs to clarify any doubts on Monday, May 31.
The airline has recently filed the DRHP to raise ₹3,600 crore through an IPO. The company also said that it would like to use the net proceeds to mainly repay debt. The airline plans to utilize ₹2,015.81 crore for payment and scheduled repayment of outstanding borrowings, ₹279.26 crore for replacement of letters of credit with cash deposits for securing lease rental payments and aircraft maintenance from leasing companies and ₹254.93 crore to repay dues to the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd towards jet fuel purchases.