Amid talks of a possible acquisition by Tata Sons, Jet Airways management will hold parleys with its pilots on November 26 in a bid to address concerns around salary delays, cost cutting measures and better roster management.

The meeting, which was supposed to be held on Tuesday, had to be postponed because the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company was out of country, sources close to the development told BusinessLine.

The pilots will be represented by the National Aviator’s Guild (NAG) at the meeting on Monday. When contacted, Asim Vailani, Vice-President, NAG, confirmed the meeting and said, “At the moment, our main issue is pertaining to the salary and that is the main agenda of the meeting. The pilots are anxious, and need clarity on the way forward. The pilot body has been patient and supportive towards the airlines and the management is supporting us too. The feedback given by our union has been well accepted by the management."

Last week, during an analyst call, the airlines confirmed that the salaries of nearly 15 per cent employees was pending. Jet Airways has a pilot base of about 1,800, of which about 15 per cent are women. According to a source, over 30 pilots have quit their jobs.

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Austere measures

According to another source, NAG had pointed out issues related to cost leakages and mismanagement leading to losses for the company and pilots. One of the points raised was that the roster team, which allocates the flights to pilots and schedules the timings of the flights, was not utilising the pilots efficiently. This was leading to longer hotel dependencies for some pilots as they were having longer lay over time.

Some pilots were also found serving less number of flying hours compared to the mandatory flying hours. As a result, other pilots had to fly overtime. In addition to addressing these issues, an NAG member said that an internal committee is renegotiating the contracts with partner hotels in a bid to cut costs.

The NAG member added, “While some of the pilots who are diligently working and supporting the company are being underpaid, others are manipulating the policies to work lesser for the same salary.”

Open house sessions

A top-level NAG member said that these issues were pointed out to the management and are to be addressed at the meeting. The pilots’ body is hoping to discussing these issues at the open house sessions which they hold every three months, though the date for the next one is still to be decided.

“On the basis of what is discussed at the meeting, we will communicate the same to our fellow pilots at the open house. After which further decisions on behalf of the pilot body will be taken,” the NAG member added.

Jet Airways declined to comment.